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INDIAN RAIDS 



In Lincoln Countj-, Kansas, 

1864 and 1869 

Story of Those Killed, With a 

History of the Monument 

Orected to Their Memory 

in Lincoln Gonrt House 

Square, May 30, 

1909 

BY 

C. BERNHARDT 






AS IT WAS IN 1864 



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INDIAN RAIDS 

In Lincoln County, Kansas, 

1864 and 1869 

Story of Those Killed, With a 

History of the Monument 

Erected to Their Memory 

in Lincoln Court House 

Square, May 30, 

1909 

BY 

C. BERNHARDT 





LINCOLN, KANSAS 

THE LINCOLN SENTINEL PRINT 

1910 







Copyright 1910 by 

C. BERNHARDT 

Published September, 1910 
Lincoln, Kansas 



'CU^71567 



PREFACE 

In preparing this little book, I have had in view one 
purpose: the correction of former errors in the names of 
victims, and in the location of the events for which the 
Pioneer Monument stands. The public records have been 
my main guide, supplemented by such information as can 
now be had from the pioneers and scouts. It has neces- 
sarily required a good deal of work and research to find 
out what happened here forty-six years ago, but I have 
good proof that my version is in every respect correct. 

I am under obligations to Hon. Thomas Anderson of 
Salina, for most of the information of 1864, and to Pro- 
bate Judge Supple, also of Salina, for courtesies extended 
in <r\vm^ me an opportunity to copy the Moffitt brothers 
administration records; to the Clerk of the Court of Junc- 
tion City for aiding me in getting facts from records 
there; also to J. J. Peate and Waldo Hancock of Beverly; 
to Ferdinand Erhardt, Martin Hendrickson and A. Roeu- 
i<rk of Lincoln Center, and to Christian Christiansen of 
Denmark, and to a few others. To all of you I extend 
mv thanks. Very respectfully. 

C. Bernhardt. 



Table of Contents 

Preface Page 3 

CHAPTER I. 

Massacre of the First Settlers, 1864 ... 6 
Extract from Letter of John L. MofBtt . . .6 

letter from Thomas Moffitt ..... 6 

Troops on Kansas Frontier in 1864 .... 8 

Report of Moffitt Massacre by Capt. Henry Booth . 9 

Defence of Moffitt House 11 

Houston and Tyler Identified 12 

Burial of the Murdered Men 12 

Number of Indians in the Battle .... 13 

Skulls in Bullfoot Cave 14 

Removal of the Bodies of the Moffitt Brothers . 15 

Letter of Robert N. Moffitt to His Mother . . 16 

Administration of the Moffitt Estate . . . 17 

Early Probate Records of Saline County ... 22 

Character of the Moffitts 23 

Preservation of the Battlefield of 1864 ... 24 
CHAPTER II. 

Indian Massacre of 1869 25 

The Coming of Settlers to Denmark . . .25 

First Accident 26 

Additions to the Settlement 27 

Raid of May 30, 1869 . . ... 28 

Death of Lauritzen and Wife, and of Otto Petersen 28 
Death of Weichell and Meigherhoff, and Mrs. 

Weichell made Pi-isoner . . . . .29 
Mrs. Alderdice made Prisoner, Her Children >hot 

or Killed 29 

Mrs. Kine's Statement of the Alderdice Affair . . 31 



32 
32 
33 
34 



41 
41 
42 
43 
44 



Captivity of Mrs. Alderdice and Mrs. Weichell 

Shootinn- of John H. Strani?e and Arthur Schmutz 

Burial of the Dead in 1869 .... 

Return of Settlers to their Claims 

Eli Zieorler's Account of the Spijlman Creek Raid ' 34 

The Schennerhorn Ranch .... 

Railroad Construction Gan.i»- Attacked 

Indian Outrages of 1868 

Lack of Military Protection in 1864 and 1869 

Scouts of the Saline Valley 

Character of the Murdered Settlers of 1864 and 1869 45 

Watermelons in Cold Storag-e .... 47 

Other Hardships of Pioneering- . . \ ^/j- 

Making a Home of a Homestead ... * 48 

Note . . AC. 
49 

CHAPTER in. 

The Pioneer Monument and Pictures . . . .51 

Monument Selected .... 

Selection of Monumt Site 

Inscription on Monument .... 

Subscriptions to Monument Fund .... 

Laying the Corner Stone . 

Unveiling of the Monument 

Search of Biographical Data for Monument . * 57 
Henry Sahlmann the Builder of the Monument * . 61 

Financial Statement 

Death of James R. Mead 

Erratum 

Key and Map on Last Page. 



52 

53 
53 
54 
55 
56 



61 
61 

62 



CHAPTER I. 

Massacre of the First Settlers. 

1864. 

The first settlers in Lincoln County, John L. MofEtt, 
Thomas Moffitt, John W. Houston and Jtimes Tyler, were 
murdered by the Indians, August 6, 1861. The only reli- 
able information we have regarding the settlement here of 
any of these young men is derived from letters written to 
members of their family by the Moffitt brothers. Through 
the courtesy of George W. Moffitt of Lawrence, Kansas, 
I give the following extract from a letter received by Rob- 
ert Nichol Moffitt, and written from Kansas by his brother 
John, dated May 13, 1864. The letter says: 

"We came here March 16, 1864. We are twenty-five 
or thirty miles from Salina, up the Saline river. We are 
now thirteen miles from the nearest house. We put up a 
stable thirty-five feet in length, a house twenty-two feet, 
of logs." — Lincoln County Sentinel, Feb. 11, 1909; also 
published in the Lincoln Republican and Sylvan News. 

These were the first substantial buildings in Lincoln 
county so far as I have knowledge, and were located on 
the southwest quarter of section 10, in what is now in 
Elkhorn township, Lincoln county, in the bend of the Sa- 
line river, just below the present site of the Rocky Hill 
bridge. The letter which follows was written by the 
younger brother Thomas, to his sister in Philadelphia. 
The mother was then living in Henry county, Illinois, 
from whence the brothers had emigrated to Kansas. 

Letter from Thomas Moffitt. 

"Salina, (Kansas), July 30, 1864. 
"McCanless and Nancy: — I suppose it is my time to 



write now, as I have left home. I have no chance to hear 
fi-om you through any letters that you may send others. 
1 hiive not had a letter from home since I came away, and 
I have not heard from Philadelphia for a long time; you 
must try and write as soon as it will be convenient, for I 
am dreadful anxious to hear from you. 

"I left home the middle of April and came to Kansas 
to Jack. Although I don't like Kansas, I think I will 
stay for awhile. Jack and I have bought about fifty head 
of cows and heifers. We are going to raising stock. I 
think we can make a living easier raising cattle than work- 
ing so hard as we used to. 

"This is an excellent grazing country and is a very poor 
farming country — the fact is, it is too subject to drouth for 
farming. 

"We were doing very well and would do as well now if it 
were not for the Indians. We would make five or six dol- 
lars a day hunting buffalo, but we have been obliged to 
give it up for the present. The Indians are so hostile to 
the hunters and settlers that we dare not go from the 
house. 

"When we have to go we go armed. Even when we go 
to the stable to take care of the horses we carry our re- 
volvers along; rather hard lines these from what we have 
been used to. The government has sent out several com- 
panies of soldiers, but they can't fight the Indians as well 
as settlers themselves. Some of the folks that have fami- 
lies are leaving Salina for a more safe place. Some ex- 
pect there will be a regular Indian war, but I don't think 
there will be any trouble in the settlement from the 
Indians. 

"Jack just got back the other day in company with two 
other fellows, and fetched a load of hides. 

"As I have nothing that is interesting to you I will 
fetch my letter to a close. "Thomas Moffitt." 

"Direct to Salina, Saline Co., Kansas. 

"Give my love to Uncle and Aunt and all my friends." 

This letter from Thomas Moffitt dated July 30, 1864, 
was written just six days before his death. The two 
hunters spoken of in the letter are probably the two men 
killed in the battle on August 6th, 1864, with the writer, 
namely, John W. Houston and one Tylor, although one 
might have been Charles Case, as he was known to have 
been with the Moffitts at various times and became admin- 
istrator of their estate after they were killed by the Indians. 
But it is likely that it was Houston and Tylor who were 



8 

there on this BOth day of July, spoken of in the alcove 
letter. 

This letter also refers to the country as an ag'ricultural 
possibility, and it seems to indicate that the Moffitts' esti- 
mate and opinion of the country was not much different 
from that of other early pioneers, namely: that this part 
of Kansas was not fit for anything but buffaloes and cattle. 
To the everlasting- honor of the pioneer, this very neigh- 
borhood has been changed from a l)arren wilderness to the 
garden spot of the state. 

This letter further seems to convey the idea that there 
were several companies of soldiers sent out by the govern- 
ment for the purpose of protecting the settlers from the 
Indians, but from the sentiment of the letter it seems as 
though the settlers had but poor faith in that kind of pro- 
tection. 

Troops on Kansas Fkontiek. 

The troops on our fi'ontier during the Civil War. were 
very poorly armed, as is shown in a report made hy Capt. 
O. F. Dunlap of the 15th Kansas Cavalry, commanding 
Fort Riley, May, 1864, in which he says that he had 
"furnished such arms as were at hand to Captain Booth 
stationed at this post. Those arms are of various kinds, 
cavalry and infantry, and are unfit to issue to either ex- 
cept in case of emergency. — "Officials Records of the 
Rebellion. Series 1, vol. 34, pt 3, page 425. Henry 
Booth was captain of Company L. Eleventh Kansas Cav- 
alry, which was raised in the neighborhood of Fort Riley. 
In the summer of 1864 he was in command of a battalion 
on duty in the neighborhood of Saline and Lincoln coun- 
ties. His battalion was composed of a detachment of 
cavalry from Co. H, Seventh Iowa, Second Lieutenant 
Ellsworth in command, a detachment from Com- 
pany L, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, Second Lieutenant 
William Booth in command, and detachments from the 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Kansas State Militia, numbering 
in all about 92 men. In a report of a scouting trip along 
the Smoky Hill and Arkansas in the first days of August, 
1864, and dated the 5th, at Salina, Captain Booth men- 
tions finding a recent camp site of from four to five hun- 
dred Indians having a lot of stock, on Big creek, probably 
in what is now the southeast corner of Ellis county. He 



I 



9 

concludes: "I think from present indications tlie Indians 
are upon the Saline, Solomon and Republican rivers, as 
the buffaloes are plenty upon these streams, and they de- 
pend entirely upon them for a living". Undoubtedly they 
are encamped upon one of these streams." From this it 
would seem that the country was overrun by Indians, and 
that the tragedy reported in his next communication 
might have been expected. 

Repokt of the Moffitt Massacre by 
Capt. Henry Booth. 

"Headquarters, 

Salina, August 11. 1864:. 
"Major— General Blunt: 

"Sir: I have the honor to report the following facts in 
regard to the killing of four men by Indians near Beaver 
Creek, about forty miles from this place, on the north 
bank of Saline River. Saturday evening, August 6, 1864, 
four men, viz: two men (brothers) named MofEtt, one 
Tyler and one Hueston, started from their ranch to kill a 
buffalo for meat, taking a two-horse team with them. 
Upon reaching a top of a hill about three-quarters of a 
mile from the house the Indians were discovered rushing 
down upon them. The horses were turned aud run 
toward a ledge of rock where the men took position. 
They appear to have fought desperately and must have 
killed several Indians. Three of the men killed were 
scalped, but one of the scalps was left upon a rock close 
by. The horses were both shot through the head. This 
probably was done by the ranchmen to prevent them from 
falling into the hands of the Indians. The wagon was 
burned. The Indians made a descent upon the house, in 
which were an old man and a woman. The old man shot 
one of the Indians through a hole in the wall, whereupon 
they all fled. They judged the number of Indians to be 
about 100. When the messenger arrived at this place a 
party of twelve citizens, with Sergeant Reynolds, of H 
Company, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, proceeded to the spot. 
They learned about the facts. The Sergeant says the In- 
dians retreated up the Salina River (west). As all the 
ranchmen have left the country west of this point, the 
Indians will be obliged to fall ui)on the settlements next 
for plunder. It seems as if they were determined to pick 
up all the stock possible and kill all they can overpower. 
The people of Saline County met in mass-meeting this 
afternoon "to devise ways and means to protect themselves 



10 

and property from theravag-es of the red skins." I would 
state here, General, my urgent need of mo re cavalry horses 
to mount my company. I have as yet only ei?ht Govern- 
ment horses, the balance ((thirty) being private. 

Henky Booth, 
"Capt. Co. L, Eleventh Kansas Vol. Cavalry, Com- 
manding Post. "—Furnished through the courtesy of 
Geo. West MoiEtt of Lawrence. 

"The scene of the awful tragedy where two of our clan 
were filled with arrows, scalped and left naked and dead 
upon the prairies, was in what is now Lincoln county, 
Kansas, the rocky ledge upon the norteast quarter of sec- 
tion nine, township twelve, range seven in Elkhorn 
township. 

"The brothers belonged to a Country Antrim, Ireland — 
Philadelphia line, being John Leetch Moffitt, born Janu- 
ary 29, 1837, at Gracehill, County Antrim, Ireland, and 
Thomas Moifitt, born 1841, at the same place. Both were 
killed as above mentioned, August 6, 1864. Robert Nicol 
Moffitt, an elder brother, came from Illinois to Kansas to 
recover the bodies. On September 20, with an escort of 
soldiers with headquarters at Salina, he went up the river to 
his brothers' graves, disinterred the remains and removed 
them to Westfield, 111., where they rest in the family lot 
in the cemetery. The parents of the brothers who thus 
lost their lives almost without warning, were David Moifitt 
of County Antrim, Ireland, and Elizabeth Nicol of the 
Island of Guernsey; both parents died in Illinois." 

"We are told from Illinois that a woman in the log: 
house was the daughter of the old man, the wife of one of 
the men killed, and the sister of the other, who, with two 
children, had come on a day's visit to John and Thomas 
Mofiitt; the buffalo hunt w^as organized partly for sport 
and partly for meat for the visitors."— Published in the 
Lincoln Sentinel, Republican and Sylvan Grove News of 
Lincoln county, Feb. 11, 1901). 

The Indians did not burn the Moffitt house, nor did they 
steal any of the live stock which the MolEts had in their 
possession. The Moifits killed their team and burned their 
wagon so the Indians could not get possession of them. 
There are many old settlers who can remember the loca- 
tion of the house and stable. There are yet a few rem- 
nants left of both. The stable stood there for some time 
after the Moffitts were killed. The buildings were rather 
pretentious structures for that period, and they were be- 



11 

yond a doubt the first pcrmtmont l)uildinn-s erected by 
white men in Lincoln county. 

Tlie spot where the battle took place is on an adjoining 
section, so the distance from their dwelling to the battle 
ground is not much more than one-half mile in a direct 
line. But Beaver Creek is between the battle field and the 
house, and the -banks are very steep in most places. They 
were evidently cut off by the Indians and unable to get 
home or into the creek, and this probably accounts for the 
stand which tliey took at the rock ledge spoken of. If 
they had secured this protection they would have been 
saved, as I have failed to find a single instance where any 
whites were killed in their homes or in a well protected 
river or creek. The Indians always tried to secure their 
victims in as easy a manner as possible, and the rock ledge 
where the MofBtts took their last stand gave the Indians 
an excellent opportunity to carry out their method of 
warfare. 

Defence of Moffitt House. 

The old gentleman and the woman mentioned by Captain 
Booth were the father-in-law and wife respectively of 
Houston. Tyler was a brother of Mrs. Houston. The 
old man was from forty to forty-five years old, the avo- 
man about twenty-five. The child spoken of by 
my Illinois informant was only a few years old. 
These people told the following story as to how they es- 
caped: The Indians came to the cabin the same evening 
after they had killed the Moffitts, Houston and Tyler, and 
the woman wanted her father to shoot at them, as there 
was only three or four of them; but the old man declined, 
as he was afraid to provoke them. They rode up to the 
house and told the occupants to come out as they were 
good Indians, and that they had nothing to be afraid of; 
but they kept themselves in the house. The next morning 
the Indians came again, and the woman induced her father 
to pull out a chunk in the wall between the logs, and he 
shot one of the Indians. Whereupon they turned and 
went back to camp. The old man and the woman and the 
child kept themselves barricaded in the house for about 
two days, and then made their escape to the Tripp home- 



12 

stead, just east of what is now Tescott. From tliere they 
went to Salina, leaving the town shortly afterward, and 
were not heard from again. 

Houston and Tylek 

Since the above was written I have found another ver- 
sion of the man and woman in the Moffit house at the time 
of the battle. This has been furnished me by Mrs. Emma 
Wensink, of Tescott, Kansas, wdio is a daughter of Will- 
iam Tripp and a sister of Woodfield Tripp who was one of 
the party that helped to bury the Moffitts. Mrs. Wen- 
sick 's story is as follows: The man and woman came to 
her father's house near Tescott, Ottawa county and staid 
there for a while, and the girl (Houston's daughter) always 
addressed the man as "Uncle." The woman gave her 
name as Mrs. Houston and said that the man named Tyler 
who was killed was her brother; and this will fairly cor- 
respond with what has been written before, with the ex- 
ception that the man in the house was not the father of 
the woman and Tyler, but he was their brother. The 
brother who was left in the house was not very bright, 
therefore he was left at h(jme for company for his sister. 
The T^der who was killed was referred to as James Tyler, 
so I am reasonably satisfied that I have his given name 
correct, and also the correct relationship existing between 
all of them. 

The place where the four men were killed has been 
badly marred, next thing to destroyed since the battle took 
place. The victims were all buried a few yards east of 
where they fell. Houston and Tyler still rest there in un- 
marked graves, and the exact spot is not known. Why 
would it not be fitting for the citizens of Lincoln county 
to have a search for the bodies of those two pioneers and 
place them in the cemetery? The Moffitts were removed 
to Illinois shortly after the massacre. 

Burial of the Murdered Men 

The names of the parties who came up from Salina to 
bury the dead as furnished me by Hon. Tom Anderson, 
of Salina, is as follows: Tom Anderson, now living in 
Salina; Ervin Harris, dead; O. P. Hamilton, dead, Albert 



13 

Brown, dead; Peter Geirsch, Jr., now livin<y near Shady- 
Bend, Lincoln county; Hiram Mosier, dead; Thomas 
Boyle, dead; Charley Robinson, dead; Woodfield Tripp, 
dead; John Cline, now living in New Cambria, and Adam 
Caldwell. The last named claimed that he was there, but 
it is doubted by some of the parties. Those men came 
from Salina to Beaver Creek, a distance of about thirty- 
five miles, to perform the sad funeral rites, and not a 
soldier was with them; yet the commanding- officer had 
the honor to have reported the killing-, yet had not fol- 
lowed up the Indians or offered any assistance. 

The funeral party found the bodies in a very decom- 
posed condition, as they had been exposed to the hot Au- 
gust sun for several days. They were all wrapped in 
blankets and buried in one grave side by side, near the spot 
where they were killed, and a headboard placed at each 
one. 

After burying the Moffitts and their companions, the 
funeral party started on their return to Salina and got as 
far as the Tripp homestead east of Tescott. There they 
got a little to eat and were going to stay all night, but 
Tom Anderson had left his young wife in Salina, so he 
went and saddled his horse to go to Salina during the 
night. A Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, who were under sus- 
picion of being cattle and horse rustlers, were staying at 
the Tripp homestead over night. When Mrs. Harrington 
heard that Mv. Anderson wanted to leave, she seized a 
butcher knife and told Mr. Anderson that she would cut 
the heart out of any s — of a b — that would attempt 
to leave before morning. She was possibly afraid that he 
would go and report to an officer in Salina. This little 
incident shows the state of mind that prevailed at that 
time. The whites were afraid of the whites as well as of 
the Indians. Mr. Anderson left for Salina just the same, 
and he took his heart with him. 

Number of Indians in the Battle. 

After the funeral the jiarty made a little tour of inspec- 
tion around the battle field. Mr. Anderson reports that 
there were by actual count, on the top of the hill west of 
the battle field, not far from where the new Rocky Hill 
school house is now located, the fire places of fifteen Indi- 



14 

an tepees that had been pitched a few days before the fu- 
neral took phice, so that there must have been fifty or 
more Indians in the bunch. It has been generally sup- 
posed that the Indians camped on Bullfoot creek the night 
after killing the Moffitts, but the camping place on the top 
of that hill would indicate that they camped right there on 
the same quarter section where the battle took place. This 
would make it one mile or more between the Indian camp 
and the Moffitt house, so it had not been hard for the man, 
woman and child in the house to escape. The funeral 
party found any number of marks on the sides of the rock 
ledges, made by bullets fired by the Indians. Two of the 
party picked up an armful of arrows, showing that the 
Indians were well armed with both firearms and bows and 
arrows. Mr. Anderson is of the opinion that this was 
the hardest fought battle between whites and Indians in 
this part of Kansas, and a good man3' of the Indians were 
certainly killed in that battle. About two miles north 
from the stone ledge, up the creek, a buffalo robe was 
found by the funeral party. This robe was to all appear- 
ances fixed up for carrying things from place to place, 
and was blood stained all over, showing that it certainly 
had been used for carrying the dead and wounded from 
the battle field. This robe was found about two miles 
north of the battle field on Beaver creek. That would 
make the location of the place where it is thought the In- 
dians buried their dead not far from where our present 
County Farm is located. 

Skulls in Bullfoot Cave. 
Some years ago, Mr. Ferdinand Erhardt found some 
skulls in a cave on Bullfoot creek, and it was generally 
supposed to be the skulls of the Indians killed in the bat- 
tle with the Mofl5tts, but that has been found to be incor- 
rect, as a company of Pottawatomie Indians camped or vis- 
ited the cave some years later and told Mr. Erhardt that 
the bones in the cave were of the victims in a battle in 
1863 between Pawnees and Pottawatomies. In this battle 
the Pawnees became hard pressed and took refuge in the 
cave and were all killed there by the Pottawatomies, so 
the bones were not brought there from the Moffitt battle. 



15 

The buffalo robe found in the described condition and in 
an opposite direction from the Bullfoot creek cave, seems 
to prove that the dead Indians, if any were killed in the 
Moffitt battle, were carried north. Mr. J. J. Peate of 
Beverly claims to have seen the place where the Indians 
buried their comrades who fell in that battle, and says 
it was about three-fourths of a mile north of the battle 
field, and he is sure fifteen Indians were killed in that 
battle. The Indians, after they broke camp, went west 
up the Saline river, according to all the accounts of their 
movements at that time. 

The cave on Bullfoot referred to is located on the south- 
west quarter of the southeast quarter of section thirteen, 
in what is now Indiana township, Lincoln county, Kan- 
sas, and is now owned and occupied by Fred Opplinger. 
There had been some inscriptions made on the rocks by 
some fairly educated Indians. The inscriptions told of the 
battle and that it took place in 1863, and that nine Paw- 
nees and two Pottawatomies were killed, eleven in all. 
The inscription on the rocks is said to have been very 
plain some years ago, but there is no trace of it now. 

Removal of the Bodies of the Moffitt Brothers 

The following "Petition to remove the bodies of John 
and Thomas Moffitt" to the home cemetery in Illinois, is 
found among the probate records of Saline county, and is 
addressed to Robt. N. Moffitt, a brother of the deceased: 

"Kewanee, [111.], September 12, 1864. 
'*Rob: — We received your letter on last Thursday. 
We were glad to hear that you had arrived safe to Sa- 
lina. You must do your best to get the boys' bodies, if 
you can get enough people to go with you to get them. 
I have been talking to several persons here, they say there 
will be no difficulty in taking them up if you can get 
enough to go with you to protect you from the Indians. 
Charles Miner took up his son, Bill, he had been dead 
four months, and was buried only six inches under ground, 
without any coffin. If you can get enough to go to pro- 
tect you from danger, hire men to take them up and put 
them in coffins, if it should cost one hundred dollars 
apiece. If you don't get them now they will have to be 
got in cold weather, and that would only be double ex- 
pense to do that. Mother says they will have to be 



16 

broug-ht home, if it takes all they had themselves, and 
half of all she has got to do it. 

(Signed) "Elizabeth M. Lyle, 

for her Mother, E. MolHtt." 

"Salina, Saline Co., Kansas, September 23d, 1864. 
*'I certify that the within is a true copy of a letter re- 
ceived by me from Mrs. E. M. Lyle, (my sister), dated 
Septembet 12, 1861. 

(Signed) "Robt. N. Moffitt," 

"Recorded on page 41, on the 26th of September, A. D. 
1864. (Signed) "A. A. Morrison, P. J." 

In compliance with the above request, Robert secured 
the bodies of his brothers, and made the following report 
of his progress to his mother: 

Salina, (Kansas,) September 30, 1864. 

Dear Mother: — I went last Tuesday and got Jack and 
Tommy's bodies. They were very much decayed — more 
than I expected, but I got them without much trouble. I 
had twenty soldiers and four citizens with me. We were 
gone three days. The Indians were back and had burned 
the house. 

I got back yesterday. I have made a box that will hold 
both coffins and packed them in sawdust. I will take them 
to Leavenworth that way and get the cases there. I will 
start from here next Monday. It will take seven days to 
go to Leavenworth, so it will be Sunday night before I 
get there. If I get the cases, which I have no doubt of, I 
will leave either Monday or Tuesday, the 10th or 11th of 
October, and will be home the 11th or 12th of October. 
I will send a dispatch from St. Joseph or Quincy. 

I have got some of Tom's hair, but there was no hair 
left on Jack's head. 

I was very sick with diarrhoea while I was after the 
boys, but I am getting well again. We had to drink salt 
water, I think was the cause of it. 

I remain your affectionate son, 

Robert. 

From this letter we learn that twenty soldiers were 
placed at Mr. Moffitt's service to go to Beaver Creek to 
get the bodies. They were accompanied by four civilians, 
as follows: Thos. Boyle, Fred Rhoads, Adam Caldwell and 
Woodfield Tripp. Three of those four helped to bury the 
Moffitts. 

It seems that Mr. Moffitt got somewhat sick on the way 



fi-om (Irinkiny: salt water. I do not like to have the idea 
prevail that the water in the Saline valley is salty* It is 
only the water in the river that is salty, and at that time 
there was not more than one well between Salina and 
Beaver Creek, and that accounts for the salt water spoken 
of in the letter. The same letter speaks of finding some 
iiair on Tom's head, hut none on Jack's, so it mii^ht have 
been that the scalp of Jack Moflitt was the one found on 
the rocks after the massacre. 

Administration of the Moffitt Estate 

I now return to the Moffitt brothers. The followino- ])ji- 
pers comprise all of the record rejj-arding- the pi'operty left 
by them, and were procured at the Saline county court 
house through the courtesy of Jud^e Supple, now Prol)ate 
Judge of Saline county. I am under obligfitions to Miss 
Grace Dawson and to Miss Lillian Lovvell, both of Sa- 
lina, for their kindness in copying the documents. They 
are all olRcial, and the information is therefore reliable. 
"12th of August, 1864, Salina, Saline Co., Kansas. 

"Application in regard to letters of administration of 
the estate of Thomas L. Mo£5tt and John MoHitt, his bro- 
ther, and John W. Houston, partners who were hunting 
and were killed by the Indians. Case of John W. Moffitt 
& Co. To all whom it may concern: 
"State of Kansas ) 
Saline County )^ 

"Know ye, that whereas John Moffitt & Co, are now 
dead, having been killed by the Indians and having left 
property which may be lost or destroyed if speedy care 
be not taken of the same; to the end that said property 
may be collected and taken care of according to law, we 
do hereby appoint Chas. Case administrator of all and 
singular, the goods of the foregoing firmo)- deceased part- 
ners, to settle and dispose of their effects according to law; 
and to collect and dispose of all things in reference to the 
firm, and to perform all other things which are or here- 
after may be required of him by law. In testimony where- 
of, I, A. A. Moi-rison, clerk of the Probate Com t, in and 
for the county and state aforesaid, have hei-eunto signed 
my name and affixed my private seal, no public seal hav- 
ing been pi'ovided as yet. 

[Seal.] "A. A. Morrison, 

Clerk and Judge of Probate Court." 
"Salina, Saline Co., Kansas, l7th August, ISG-i. 

"Application for letters in regard to the estate of John 



18 

MoiBtt and Thomas Moffitt, his brother, who were lately 
killed by the Indians up the Saline, on the Beaver creek, 
has been made, and Mr. Charles Case has agreed to attend 
to the business."" 

"Administrator's Oath, 17th August, 1864. 

"You, Charles Case, do solemnly swear that you will 
make a true and perfect inventory of and appraisement of 
the estate of John and Thomas Moffitt, deceased, and pay 
all the debts as far as the assets will extend, and account 
for and pay over all assets which shall come to your 
knowledge or possession according to law. 

"Chas. Case.^' 

"The within is recorded on page 63, and a partial set- 
tlement on page 60. 

"Recorded this 31st December, A. D. 1864. 

"A. A. Morrison, Probate Judge." 

"Salina, Saline Co., Kansas, August, 1864. 
"A list of the goods of John and Thomas Moffitt, broth- 
ers, who were killed by the Indians out on Beaver creek, 
up the Saline stream. Charles Case, administrator, as 
charged with having received the effects of the Moffitts, 
deceased, which is reported as follows: 

Cash .$1,004.00 

Other goods according to the appraisement list: 

1 Dragoon bridle bit, appraised at 50 

1 three gallon keg 50 

1 grindstone 1 .25 

1 shawl 10.00 

3 coats, one vest and other clothing. . , 15.00 

1 hammer 50 

1 box and a lot traps 1.00 

11 bottles strychnine 3.30 

6 boxes of G. D. caps 50 

2 saddle trees and one pair of stirrups 5.00 

1 plane and bit 1.00 

1 harness leather 3.00 

1 brace and bitts 2.00 

1 hand saw 1.50 

1 brush 25 

1 map of western states 25 

9 books appraised at 5.00 

4 boxes of caps 1.00 

1 trunk and a variety of clothing 27.00 

1 pair of pants 7.00 

1 grass mower 150.00 

3 buffalo robes 1.00 



19 

2 pitch forks 2.50 

4 two year old heifers, each $14 56.00 

5 cows and three calves 100.00 

20 .yearlin;^s, $10 per head 200.00 

1 cow and calf 25.00 

"The whole amount of goods as made known to me, 
"A. A. Morrison, Probate Judge." 

"P. M. Brown, on his note on page 37, was allowed $10 
for crying the public sale of property of the MofEtts on 
15th of September, A. D. 1864. 

"A. A. Morrison, Probate Judge." 

"October 4th, 1864, in open court, settlement 

of Moffitt's estate . $1082.55 

Bills allowed to the amount of 125.51 

$ 957.04 

"Salina, September 26th, 1864. 
"Received of A. A. Morrison, Probate Judge of Saline 
county, Kansas, the sum of twenty-five dollars out of the 
estate of John and Thomas Moffitt. 

"RoBT. N. Moffitt." 

"Estate of John and Thomas Moffitt to Charles Case, 
Dr. : For appraisement of property and inspection of pa- 
pers of the said estate, by Erwin Farris and Robert Par- 
ker» one day each, at ($3) three dollar per day, $6.00. 

"Chas. Case, 
"By J. B." 

"The State of Illinois ) gg 
Henry County j 

"I, Robert N. Moffitt, of said county and state, do here- 
by make out and state the above and foregoing list is a 
true copy of the appraisement list of the goods, moneys 
and effects of Thomas and John Moffitt, deceased. Re- 
ceived by Charles Case as administrator, and for which 
he is chargeable as furnished to me by A. A. Morrison, 
Probate Judge, Saline County, Kansas. 

"Robert N. Moffitt" 

"Sworn lo and subscribed before me this 19th day of 
December, A, D. 1865. 

"J. H. Howe, Notary Public." 

"Charles Case, Esquire, Administrator of the Estate of 
John L. Moffitt and Thomas Moffitt, deceased, Salina, 
Saline County, Kansas: 

"Pay to Hon. Hugh Osborn the sum of nine hun- 
dred dollars ($900) a,ssets in your hands realized by you on 



20 

the settlemenf: of the estate of John L. Moffitt and Thomas 
Moffitt, and this shall be your receipt for the same. 

"KOBT. N. MOFFITT, 

"■for himself, and as attorney in fact for the other heirs. 
''Kewanee, Henry Co., 111., Nov. 9, 1866. 

Kewanee, Illinois, xvovember 10, 1866. 
"Hon. Hnffh Osborn, 

"Dear Sir: Your favor received informing me of the 
settlement of the estate of my brothers. 

"Herewith find order on Case for the money. I wish 
you to get the money and send it to me by express or 
draft as you think best, deiactiag for your trouble. I 
think there ought to have been at least $1,100, but send it 
along. Hoping to hear from you soon, lam 

"Truly yours, 

"KOBERT MOFFITT." 

Kewanee, Henry Co., Ills., November, 12th, 1866. 
"'^on. Hugh Os orn, 

"Dear Sir: Yours without date wiis received on the 9th, 
requesting an order on Case for the balance in his hands,or 
rather in Mr. Jones'. On last Saturday I attended to the 
matter. Gen. J. VI. Howe, a lawyer of Kewanee drew 
the order and also wrote a letter in my - arae instructing 
you to forward the money in any way in which you could, 
a'd is practicable, which I -uppo e is all that is necessary, 
But as you may perhaps expect me out there, I deem it 
just to write this and let you know why I do not come at 
l)resent. I am ju t beginning to husk my corn crop, and 
have no one to help me as yet. I cannot make arrange- 
ment- to go at present. If you r ceive the money please 
forward it if you can, if you can't, lose no time in writ- 
ing? to me, and I will come out myself, but if I can avoid 
it, it will save me both trouble and exi)ense. It would 
cost me about one hundred dollars to go there, ■ nd at pre- 
sent the loss of time would be no small matter. I intend 
to go there this winter anyhow, and have the matter set- 
tled, or put in the hands of someone that would. If you 
will do the busine s, payin^r yourself for all necessary 
trouble, and forward the balance to me, I will be much 
obliged to you, but do not fail to let me know if any- 
thing Jturos up to pr. vent a settlement at this time. I 
think I will wait at present until I hear from you, which I 
hope to do in a few weeks. Please write immediately, 
and if necessary I will come out there. 
"Yours truly, 

(Signed) R. N. Moffitt." 



21 

State of Kansas ) , , 
Saline County ) '^ 

To D. R. WagstaflF, Sheriff of Saline County, Greeting: 

You are hereby commanded to notify Charles H. Case, 
administrator of the estate of Thomas and John Moffitt, 
deceased, to appear before me, Charles S. Hussey, I'robate 
Judge in and for Saline County, at my office in said County, 
during the April term of the Probate Court, of Saline 
County, Kansas, commencing on the first Monday in 
April, 1869, which term will continue during the said 
week to exhibit statement in regard to the said estate above 
referred to. 

You will make due return of this writ as the law directs. 
Given under my hand and seal this 8th day of March A. 
D. 1869. 

(Signed) Charles S. Hussey, Probate Judge. 

Received March 8th, A. D. 1869, at 4 o'clock p. m., 
and after diligent search have been unable to find the 
within named Charles H. Case in my countv. March 
18th, 1869. 

Fees 50c. (Signed) D. R. Wagstaff, Sheriff. 

It appears from these records that John W. Houston 
was a partner of the MofEtt brothers, yet that is the only 
mention of Houston. There appears to be nothing in the 
records to show that be had either heirs era sbeie in the 
estate. There is an account given of thirty-four head of 
cattle, which will fairly well tally with the number of 
cattle given in the letter that opens this book. This would 
seem to indicate that the Indians did not drive any cattle 
away and the inventory shows that nothing was taken 
from the house. Furthermore, the parties who did the 
work of burying the dead found the team killed and the 
wagon burned where the dead bodies were. 

The records also show that Robert Moffitt got only 
twenty-five dollars when he came after the bodies of his 
brothers. This is all that the relatives ever got out of all 
that the boys left. The inventory of the estate is rather 
interesting at this time, for we read that "three buffalo 
hides were listed at one dollar." If we had three buffalo 
robes now we might buy a farm with them. Right below 
we read, "two hay forks two dollars and one-half." The 
difference then and now is that buffalo hides grew here, 
while hay forks had to be hauled from Leavenworth. 



22 

The shawl spoken of in the inventory was not necessa- 
rily a woman's shawl, as men in the frontier camps used 
them very often for convenience sake, as they were nice 
to roll up in and go to sleep on the prairie when they 
were out on their hunting trips. 

It further appears that Charles Case was appointed ad- 
ministrator of the estate, and from what the records 
show, and from information that I have from the Moffitt 
relatives, it would appear that said Mr. Case administered 
the whole business into his own pocket. Anyway the 
relatives did not get anything. The records also show 
that the Sheriff of Saline county was sent out on the 18th 
day of March, 1869, to bring in the said Charles Case 
for a settlement, but the papers were returned, as Case 
could not be found. He was said to be in Kentucky then, 
money and all. And it is reported that he afterwards ap- 
peared in Illinois and told the relatives of the Moffitt boys 
a very hard luck story, and no prosecution followed. 
Early Probate Records of Saline County. 

The entire settlement of the Moffitts' estate seems to 
have been handled in a very careless manner, not only by 
the clerk who acted as probate judge, but also by the 
regular Judge after Saline county became organized. The 
administrator was permitted to get away with the entire 
proceeds of the estate, and the records show that more 
than five years had elapsed after the administrator was 
appointed before an effort was made to get him to settle 
according to law. It will be noticed that there was no 
bond given for faithful performance of duty. This copy 
of administration is a very good criterion to go on in re- 
gard to the early days. It is worthy of a very close study, 
and even then we may have some difficulty in understand- 
ing what is meant by some of the documents on file in the 
Salina records. But there is nothing omitted here that is 
recorded, as I have had every item copied in full. I have 
done this as a matter of history, as a curiosity to the pres- 
ent and future generations. 

It is something very interesting to search the old rec- 
ords, as it throws light on how public business was done 
in those early days. In the first place I had trouble to 



23 

find what I wanted in the Saline county court house, ow- 
ing- to the fact that book "A" could not be found in the 
office of the Probate Judge. This book was what was 
wanted in order to get the necessary information. The 
clerk could not find it, and when Judge Supple came he 
could not find it. He then 'phoned to some parties in Sa- 
lina, and the said party 'phoned back that the book was 
there, in the court house, and that he would be over in a 
few minutes to find it. The judge then started for another 
hunt and found a very small book that did not look like a 
book of record. This book was marked "A," and every- 
thing in it is written with pen and ink, and it was neither 
ruled nor lettered. 

The copy of the administration herein submitted shows 
that there was no Probate Judge in Saline county at that 
time. The county was organized but not fully officered. 
What is now Lincoln and* Saline counties was at that time 
attached to Ottawa county for judicial purposes, and a 
clerk from Ottawa county was stationed at Salina and had 
charge of the probate work. The office at Salina had no 
seal, and the clerk had to use his own private seal. All of 
this goes to show that Salina in the pear 1864 was a very 
small frontier town. But there were men in it to push it 
ahead to a very high state of civilization. 

The book "A" referred to is about twelve by fifteen 
inches and about an inch thick. The record of the Moffitt 
adminstration is recorded on page 60 and when the Judge 
discovered the records in the book, he took from the vault 
all of the papers pertaining to the Moffitt estate. 

Character of the Moffitts, — The Battlefield. 

Before I leave the subject of the Moffitts, I desire to 
call attention to a few facts. The foregoing letters and 
documents seem to indicate that the Moffitt brothers were 
well fixed in life and came here with the bona fide inten- 
tion of working up the wilderness so that it would resem- 
ble a garden spot, and not a wild state. Second, the let- 
ter seemed to indicate that they were quite tender hearted, 
and not like the hard hearted and in some cases fugitives 
from justice who went to the front or a little beyond the 
line of civilization. The third thing that I would call atten- 



24 

tion to, is the battlefield. On the northeast quarter of sec- 
tion nine, township twelve, range seven, in Elkhorn 
township, Lincoln county, Kansas, is the only known bat- 
tlefield in Lincoln county, where whites and Indians 
fought a real hard battle. The place is about three miles 
from Lincoln Center, and for this reason it ought to be 
purchased: Say five or ten acres, fenced in and made into 
a public park, and the rock ledge preserved as much as 
possible. It must be remembered that Houston and Tyler 
are still buried there. This would be a fitting finish to 
our pioneer monument and a great help to preserve our 
history for future generations. And further, Tom An- 
derson of Salina, one of the men who helped to bury the 
Moffitts, informs me that there were so many arrows left 
at the rock ledge that they could be gathered up by the 
armful, which seems to indicate that this was a very hard 
fought battle and therefore the spot ought to be taken 
care of for the future. There are a number of other his- 
toric spots in Lincoln county from that early period that 
ought not to be forgotten, notably the cave on the Op- 
plinger farm on Bullfoot creek, that is large enough to 
accommodate about twenty persons. 



25 



CHAPTER II. 

INDIAN MASSACRES OF 1869. 

The Coming of Settlers to Denmark. 

In the month of February, 1869, the following settlers 
^ came to what is now called Denmark, Lincoln county, 
Kansas, on Spillman creek: Lorentz Christiansen and 
wife, Peter Christiansen and wife and their three children, 
Helena, Christian and Hans. The Christiansens were 
brothers. Eskild Lauritzen and wife and one boy. Otto 
Petersen a single man, were the first settlers around the 
Denmark neighborhood. Fred Meigerhoff, and George 
Weichell and his wife came two months later. Lorentz 
Christiansen filed on the southeast quarter of section 
twenty-three, now owned and occupied by Martin Ras- 
mussen. His brother Peter Christiansen filed on the south- 
west quarter of section twenty-four, now owned and oc- 
cupied by H. P. Jensen. Eskild Lauritzen filed on the 
north-east quarter of section twenty-five now owned and 
occupied by Peter Larsen. Otto Petersen filed on the 
east- half of the south-east quarter of section twenty-five, 
(All of this land is in what is now Grant township), and 
the west half of the south-west quarter of section thirty, 
now owned and occupied by jMrs. C. Andersen. George 
}W Weichell and Fred Meigerhoff filed on the north half of 
section thirty-one in Marion township. I am unable to 
find out which quarter was filed on by Weichell and 
which by Meigerhoff but they filed on those two quarters 
just before they were killed. 

As stated before, these settlers came here in February 
1869, and started to build log houses, or partly "dugouts". 
The Christiansen brothers had their log house dug in a 



26 

bank in a bend of Spillman creek. Their house was on 
the south side of the creek. A bend in the creek runs so 
much to the north there that the house was very near the 
center of the quarter section. This house was on Peter 
Christiansen's land and it is certainly the first dwelling^ 
erected in that neighborhood. Lorentz and his wife 
lived with them. Eskild Lauritzen had a log house on his 
land in the bend on the south side of Spillman, not far 
from where the present dwelling- of Peter Larsen is now 
located. Otto Petersen lived with the Lauritzens. 
Weichell and wife and Meigerhoff, when they arrived, 
also lived with Lauritzen. This made a crowd of six adults 
in this one house. We might presume that this was a very 
small log house, and this was one of the hardships that 
the pioneer had to contend with, — no place to seek shelter 
until some rude and cramped affair could be erected. 
When new arrivals came to the settlement the latch string 
was always found hanging out and they were given as 
good as the settlers had for themselves. 
The First Accident. 
The first accident that might have ended fatally, hap- 
pened when they were cutting logs for the log house of 
Peter Christiansen. Lorentz had the misfortune to miss 
the log with his ax and cut a terrible gash in his foot. It 
bled profusely and there was danger of his bleeding to 
death and no doctor within thirty or more miles, and no 
house to place him in. It looked bad for the small band sur- 
rounding him. What to do was a puzzle, as none of them 
could speak fair English. Lorentz himself was the best 
in that respect, and he was out of commisssion, they there- 
fore decided to send out Christian Christiansen the oldest 
son of Peter Christiansen. He could speak good English, 
so he was dispatched down to the Saline river where a few 
Irish had settled. Arriving there he failed to get the de- 
sired help so he returned that evening. The next day he 
was dispatched down the river again for help, and kept 
going until he reached the house of John S. Strange not 
far from the present site of Lincoln Center. When Mr. 
Strange heard what had happened to one of his fellowmen 
he yoked up his ox team and drove up to Denmark and 



27 

loading- Mr. Christiansen in the wagon, jiroceded to take 
him home, and nursed him for six weeks or until he was 
well again. This incident may perhaps in a measure ac- 
count for the lack of a house on the Lorentz Christiansen 
land. When spring opened each one got busy to get a 
little breaking done so as to grow as least a little to help 
out. 

The above has been written to introduce each of the 
characters in this drama, in order to better understand what 
did follow. 

Additions to the Settlement 

Along in March or the first part of April, Mr. and Mrs. 
George Weichell and Fred Meigerhoff, a single man, came 
to Spillman creek. They had staid some two or three 
weeks on Bullfoot creek, making their home with Ferdi- 
nand Erhardt. These people have been very hard for me to 
trace. But enough is known about them to convey the 
idea that they were highly educated, and well fixed in a 
financial way. It is said that they had an instrument some- 
thing like a butter or cheese tester. They would run this 
instrument from three to five feet in the ground, and cut 
and pull out a plug of the subsoil for examination. They 
did not buy the cat in the sack, for they picked out two 
as good pieces of land as you will find anywhere. 

At the beginning of my work the names of Meigerhoff 
and Weichell were not complete. No one seemed to 
know their initials, and I desired to have their names cor- 
rect on the pioneer monument, so I set about to find their 
full names, and reasoned that if they had taken land they 
would have been obliged to have had citizen's papers, and 
to file on the land they would have had to go to Junction 
City. I made a trip to this place and examined the re- 
cords from January 1st to June 1st, 1869 and I found 
there that on May 10th, 1869, George Weichell and Fred 
jVIeigerhoff took out their first citizen papers and they also 
show that the two men were from Switzerland and not 
from Hanover, as some have it. The names are now cor- 
rect on the monument. It will be noticed that they were 
in Junction City on May 10th, and it is certain that they 
took land while there. When we consider the crowds that 



28" 

applied ^for^land during those days, and the slow mode of 
traveling, it is safe to say that the two men barely had 
time to return from Junction City to be at home on the 
30th day of May. 

Raid of May 30, 1869. 

On the 30th, day of May, 1869, about two o'clock, p. m., 
a party of Indians consisting of about sixty, came down 
Spillman Creek committing all kinds of depredations and 
killed Eskild Lauritzen and his wife, and Stine and Otto Pe- 
tersen. The Lauritzen boy was saved. He was over at the 
Christiansen home, playing with Hans Christiansen. The 
place where the killing occurred was on the north side of 
the creek, and west of "Little Timber," on the south west 
quarter of section twenty-four, on the north line of the 
Peter Christiansen farm, near to the south line of the pre- 
sent Morgenson farm. Otto Petersen was killed some dis- 
tance from where the Lauritzens were killed, on the same 
side of all the creeks, but was not found till some days af- 
ter the massacre. It might be well to state here, that Lit- 
tle Timber and Trail creek empty into Spillman creek on 
this quarter section. Some of the writers, including Eli 
Ziegler, who makes the statement very positive, say that 
Otto Petersen was killed and buried on the south side of 
the creek. Reverend Thomas Strange was one of the 
parties that went up on the Spillman and found and buried 
the dead body of Petersen. He was rolled in a blanket 
and buried where he was found; and Rev. Strange is posi- 
tive that it was on the north side of the creek, and from 
other sources I have the same statement. So I accept that 
as being the true fact. 

This thirtieth day of May, 1869, is said to have been 
one of those lovely days that only Kansas can produce at 
that time of the year; and being on Sunday the Lauritzens 
and Petersen turned out to enjoy the Sabbath day; and at 
the same time investigate their own, and the Christiansen 
prospects for a crop. They had a little breaking done and 
a little sod corn put in. The Christiansen breaking was 
north of the creek, and about directly north of his house, 
and the Lauritzen boy was at the Christiansen house; so 
it is easy to understand that his parents were on the way 



29 

to visit the Christiansens; but went across the creek to see 
the Christiansen crop first, and that was what cost them 
their live^. The Indians tried very hard to burn the 
Christiansen house after they had finished their fiendish 
act on the north side of the creek; but the brothers escaped 
injury, and kept the Indians far enough away to prevent 
firing the house. If Lauritzen, his wife and Otto Peter- 
son had gained the house, they would have been saved. 
During the night the Christiansen brothers with their 
families escaped down the river to the Schermerhorn ranch 
on Elk horn creek. They took with them the Lauritzen 
boy. He was afterwards sent to some relative in Chicago. 
If rumors are right, he is now farming in Iowa. 

This will prove that they knew at the Schermerhorn 
ranch, early the next morning, from two different sources, 
that the Indians had done some mischief, and at least three 
settlers had been killed. There was a detachment of 
soldiers there, but they did not stir to protect the settlers, 
nor to punish the Indians. But I will come to that later on. 

Mr. and Mrs. Weichell and Meigerhoff at their home 
evidently saw the Indians coming, heard the shooting and 
their war whoops and ran down the creek to the Saline 
river. They were certainly trying to get down to the 
Schermerhorn ranch. But the Indians discovered them in 
their flight and started in persuit of them, and they had a 
running fight all the way. Weichell and Meigerhoff had 
as good fire arms as money could buy at that time. But 
the ammunition gave out, so they were an easy prey for 
the Indians, and they were overtaken on the north line of 
the southeast quarter, of the northwest quarter of sec- 
tion two, Indiana township. That makes it about one 
mile and one-half west of Lincoln Center. Here Meiger- 
hoff and Weichell were killed and Mrs. Weichell taken 
prisoner. It was also near here that Mrs. Alderdice was 
taken prisoner and her two children killed and one wounded. 
The latters name is Willis Daily. He was picked up and 
carried to Mr. Mart Hendrickson's house, the next day 
after the battle, where the arrow that had wounded him 
was extracted by Mr. Washington Smith assisted by Phil. 
Lantz. One of Mrs. Anderdice's boys that was killed, was 



80 

a full -brother to the wounded Willis Daily, they being 
sons of Mrs. Alderdice by a former husband. This kill- 
ing took place some time about six o'clock, on Sunday 
evening, May 30th, 1869. 

Mrs. Alderdice was taken prisoner and her children kill- 
ed about a quarter of a mile southeast of where Weichell 
and Meigerhotf were killed, on the Nick Whalen farm. 
The southwest quarer of section one. 

The Indians then crossed the Saline river and went a- 
bout due south to Bullfoot creek, where they camped on 
the Opplinger farm at a stone cave before described. Here 
the Indians took Mrs. Alderdice's thre-^ months old baby, 
choked it to death and then hung it in a tree. 

Atone of Mrs. Weichell's visits here, she gave another 
version of the killing of Mrs. Alderdice's baby. She was 
allowed to have her baby for three days, but it was crying 
a good deal, which annoyed the savages so much tbat they 
then wrung its head off and threw the several parts of the 
body into the stream. Either version is hard for us to 
read about now. What heart rending agonies for the poor 
mother, that was so utterly unable to prevent the cruel 
act That made three of Mrs. Alderdice's children killed, 
and one wounded. The wounded boy is still living in 
Blue Rapids, Kansas. The Indians left the next day May 
31>t without hindrance from the soldiers. 

I have tried to make it as clear as I can what happened to 
each one of the victims so as to be understood. We know 
how Mrs. Weichell got down to the Saline valley, but how 
and why Mrs. Alderdice was there is something of a 
mystery. Her husband, Thomas Alderdce, together with 
a few other citizens was at Junction City at the U. S. land 
office, which was located there at that time, for the pur- 
pose of contestiniT a piece of land in the Saline valley that 
had been filed on by a minor, hence there were not many 
men in the neighborhood, and in all probability the Indians 
knew that and for that reason they raided through the 
valley. The letter here submitted from Eli Zeigler, of 
Salem, Oregon, a brother of Mrs. Alderdice, seems to state 
for a fact that he got his dinner that day with her, but he 
is not able to state whether it was at her own house or at 



31 

some other house; but it is .supposed that she went with 
her children to visit Mrs Timothy Kine and they went to- 
gether to Nicholas Whalens house. Mrs Kine was alone 
also with a small baby and when the Indians came she es- 
caped to the river and the Indians failed to find her. She 
was saved but she got so scared at the time that she has 
been a mental wreck ever since and is now in an asylum. 
She managed, however to cross the river and make her 
way to the farm of Ferdinand Erhardt, on Bullfoot dur- 
ing the night or early in the next morning. The child in 
her arms at that time is now Mrs. John Linker and resides 
in Lincoln Center. 

It has been told quite often but has never yet been put 
on paper that the settlers when they got home and heard 
what had happened to Mrs. Alderdice and Mrs. Kine and 
the children, they held a council of war and decided to in- 
flict capital punishment on Nicholas Whalen and Tom 
Noon for deserting the women and children in that way. 
Mrs. Kine, however, interfered promptly and said that 
there had already been t' o much trouble and said that Mr. 
Whalen and Tom Noon had done the right thing under the 
circumstances as they could not have protected them against 
so manj'' Indians. It seems that when the men left the 
settlement for Junction City, they had requested Mr. 
Whalen to take care of the women and children, and he 
had promised to do so. The two women and all of the 
children were evidently on their way to the Whalen house 
as it was getting close to evening when they were over- 
taken and the Alderdice children were killed on the Whalen 
farm. Naturally Mr. Whalen could not be held respon- 
sible for what happened out on the prairie. This is the 
only theory that can be advanced why the two women and 
the five children were there at that time. They simply 
failed to reach the Whalen house before they were over- 
taken by the Indians. Mrs. Kine escaped and concealed 
herself and the baby in the brush in the river bed. 

After the copy for this book was ready for the press I 
visited Mrs. Kine at Leavenworth, and was able to obtain 
from her a very clear statement corroborating the above, 
except as modified by her story. She says "Mra. Alder- 



32 

dice and I,and Tom Noon and wife were visiting at Nick 
Whalen's house on the day the Indians came into the 
valley. When we heard the shooting and shouting, at the 
time Weichell and Meigerhoff were killed, about five p. m., 
Whalen left the house and went off to corral his horses 
and take them to a place of safety; while Noon and wife 
mounted their horses and fled, leaving Mrs. Alderdice and 
myself and our five little children alone in the house. We 
women took our children and ran to hide ourselves. I 
reached the brush, but Mrs. Alderdice and her four child- 
ren were overtaken." 

Mrs. Alderdice and Mrs. Weichell were carried to the 
south fork of the Platte river in Colorado, between Jules- 
burg and Sterling. Here they were kept captives by Tall 
Bull, the Souix chief, until the eleventh day of July 1869, 
when during the battle Captain Gushing under General 
Carr, found the two white women in Tall Bull's tent. Mrs. 
Alderdice was mortally wounded and breathed her last, as 
the soldiers entered the tepee. Mrs. Weichell was also 
badly wounded, but was able to sit up. The Indians evi- 
dently meant to have killed both of the women, but were 
taken by such a sudden surprise that they did not have 
time to complete the dastardly deed. Mrs. Alderdice was 
buried there, and Mrs. Weichell taken care of and lived 
to tell the tale of their hardships during that one month 
and twelve days of their captivity. The story can perhaps 
be better imagined than described, so I shall not attempt 
to describe it. This rescue is known as the battle of Sum- 
mit Springs. 

Clubbing of John H. Strange and Shooting of 
Arthur Schmutz. 
The same day, May 30, 1869, two or three stray Indians 
came as far east as the north half of the northeast quarter 
of section eighteen, Elkhorn township, near the home of 
John S. Strange., and found two boys about fourteen 
years old. One was John Harrison Strange, a son of 
Reverend John S. Strange, and the other Arthur Schmutz. 
The Indians professed friendship, but the boys evidently 
did not take it that way, as one Indian rode up and raising 
to his full height dealt young Strange a terrible blow 
with a club He died without a struggle. The Schmutz 



33 

boy started to run when he saw what had happened to his 
playmate, whereupon he was shot with an arrow. The 
arrow shaft was extracted all except part of the arrow 
head, and the boy was taken to Fort Marker and placed in 
the government hospital where he died, and he was buried 
at Fort Harker. He lived and suffered for ten weeks be- 
fore death relieved him. 

Burial of the Dead. 

The Alderdice children were buried on their grand- 
father's farm, (M. Zeigler), on the northwest quarter of 
section 22, Colorado township, near where the Monroe 
school house now stands. The Strange bo^^ was buried on 
the Schermerhorn ranch, and afterward removed to the 
Lincoln cemetery. 

When the funeral of the Strange boy took place every- 
body was armed as that was customary in those days. A 
buffalo came from the south and as the settlers were in 
need of a little meat they gave chase as soon as they had 
the body lowered in the grave. The buffalo was over- 
taken at the Saline river and it was killed and divided. 
This will show that the settlers were always ready for an 
emergency. If it had been a party of Indians they would 
more than likely have given battle to them as well as to a 
buffalo. 

Weichell and Meigerhoff were buried about a mile and 
one half west of Lincoln Center just where the^ fell. The 
bodies still rest there, and the exact spot is now uncertain. 

From there the funeral party went up to Denmark and 
found Mr. and Mrs. Lauritzen and buried them. They 
were also buried where they were found, and they still 
rest there as they were never moved. The civilians that 
buried the dead (there were no soldiers), were J. J. Peate, 
A. Campbell, of Salina; Lon Schermerhorn, Volney Ball, 
Ed. Johnson, Isaac DeGraff, D. C. Skinner, R. B. Clark, 
William E. Thompson, George Green, Z. Ivy of Tescottand 
a few others. Those men came up the valley to perform 
the last sad rites. Otto Petersen was not found until some 
days later when Rev. T. M. Strange, and others came up 
the valley and found his body, and he was buried where 
he was found. The three are certainly buried on or close 



34 

to the southwest quarter of section 24, one half mile 
south of the Lutheran church at Denmark. 
Return of the Settlers. 

Peter and Lorentz Christiansen and their wives were 
saved. Helena, the daug-hter, was working at Wilson, Ells- 
worth county, and Christian, the tjldest son, was working at 
the Schermerhorn ranch at that time, so there were only the 
two brothers and their wives and Plans, the youngest son 
of Peter Christiansen and the Lauritzen boy to move down 
to the Schermerhorn ranch. Tliey arrived there early in 
the morning of May 31st and told what had happened on 
Spillman creek the day before. A government wagon 
hauled the two families to Fort Harker from the ranch, 
but not being able to find any work there the two families 
went to Junction City, where the men secured work. at 
their trade as blacksmiths. There they remained until 
December, 1870, when they again moved back to Spillman, 
arriving there on the first day of January 1871. There 
were quite a number to come on that day, and two or three 
families had come a short time before so there was more 
security felt among them, but it took them a long time 
to get over the Indian scare. When the Christiansen 
brothers again returned to their land they found the graves 
of Lauritzen and his wife. Her hoop skirt was sticking 
out of the ground, which was all that the Indians had left 
on her body except her stockings; otherwise she was nude. 
I often wondered why she was killed, as the Indians were 
seldom known to kill women, and I sometimes think that 
she killed herself, or that her husband killed her, rather 
than have her go into the hands of the Indians. They 
evidently knew what her fate would be if that had 
happened. 
Eli Zeigler's Account of the Spillman Creek Raid 

Eli Zeigler, the brother of Mrs. Susanna Alderdice, has 
written the following account of the Spillman creek raid, 
and it is here copied from the Lincoln papers of Novem- 
ber, 18, 1909. 

"Salem, Oregon, February 24, 1909, 
"J. J. Peate, Beverly, Kansas: 

Dear Friend and Cooarade — At your present request I 



35 

will tell you about the Indian raid on Spillman creek as I 
saw it May 30, 1869. 

"It has been a lonj? time and I have seen no one to talk 
with about it for years. I have seen John Alverson a few 
times but do not remember that we talked about those 
days, but will try to tell the tale without exageration. 
There were but few settlers on Bacon creek, and hearing 
of an abonded claim near Bacons, and that there were 
eight or ten acres broken on it, I concluded to take it. I 
understood that the man who did this breaking, fearing 
an Indian raid, had left the country. 

"John Alverson, my brother-in-law, took his team, which 
we loaded with corn and oats to plant, also provisions for 
two weeks for ourselves and horses, expecting to be away 
that length of time. We started from father's place (near 
where Beverly now is) Sunday, May 30, 1869, and got up 
to Thomas Alderdice's at noon and ate our dinner there. 
Thomas Alderdice, I think was in Sa'ina. I do not re- 
member of talking with any man in that settlement. Re- 
port said that the Indians had been on the Solomon river 
a few days before, but they had been driven off by a com- 
pany of soldiers. My sister, Mrs. Alderdice, mentioned 
that and told me to keep a sharp lookout. After eating 
dinner with my sister, I bade her sood by^^ — little think- 
ing that she would be in the hands of the Indians before 
sundown, her children killed or wounded, and that I 
would never see her again After going a short distance I 
saw a man on horse-back up toward the head of Lost creek, 
riding fast toward the west. John thought he looked like 
an Indian spy, but I thought it was some one looking for 
cattle. We kept close watch <>n him to see where he was 
going, but he gained so rapidly vn us that we could soon 
see him only on the highest hills. He was still riding at 
full f^peed the last we saw of him on the hill east of Trail 
creek, and the course he was taking he would cross Trail 
creek about where the wagon road crossed, or a little 
above We kept on going on across Trail creek when Johh 
made the remark that he did not like the appearance of 
things. After we left this creek going towards Spillman 
creek, as we approached the highest ground we could look 
up the bottom on the south of Spillman and there we saw 
a part3'^ of horseman quite a way up the creek, and coming 
down the bottom quite rapidly. We stopped a moment 
to look at them, and John thought they were Indians, and 
that was their spy who went ahead of us, but I thought 
that they were soldiers, returning from the Solomon river. 
They deceived me th3 way they rode, riding like a com- 
pany of soldiers in uniform line, and coming at a fast 



36 

gallop. The sun glistened on their guns so plain that I 
still thought they were soldiers, but John would not have 
it that way, but said they were Indians, and I had about 
made up my mind that they were. They were getting by 
this time about opposite us and we had tried to count them 
several times. As near as we could make out there were 
between 45 and 60 of them. At this time they were still 
south of Spillman creek and a little above the Dane settle- 
ment. 

"We had made up our minds that there was no way of 
avoiding an attack. Just hen we stopped, and we stopped 
a moment; the distance between us being about one-half 
mile. Then they all started for us on the run, except ten 
or fifteen who went down the creek toward the Dane settle- 
ment. There was a knoll just north of us, and I thought 
best to get on that and right them, thinking that we would 
have time to unhitch the horses and tie them to the wagon 
before they got to us. So we drove to the knoll. I jumped 
out to unhook the horses, but John thought it would not 
do to stop there, there being so many Indians he thought 
best for us to get to the creek. I jumped back into the 
wagon and we sta ted toward Trail creek, going in a north- 
easterly direction to the nearest point. We came to the 
creek about half a mile above the crossing. As we were 
not very well armed we talked the matter over while go- 
ing to the creek. I having a needle gun and about forty 
rounds of cartridges and John an old muzzle loader, we 
concluded that I would do the shooting and John would 
hold the load in his gun as a reserve shot. 

''v\ hen we got to the creek the Indians were close be- 
hind us. I looked across the creek and thought there was 
a little bank on the other side that would protect us some. 
So I drove across, but John misunderstood me and jumped 
out into the creek and I drove up the bank. John ran 
along under the bank on the side I was on; the Indians 
were coming across the creek within a few yards of us, 
shooting and yelling. John was calling for me to get out 
of the wagon, when I got to that little bank, I stopped the 
horses, seeing nothing more could be done to save the 
team and that we must defend ourselves, I dropped the 
lines, grabbed my gun and jumped out on the off side of 
the wagon. Reaching in the box for my cartridges, I 
could get only the box, about 20 rounds. While I was 
getting the cartridges the Indians were close all around. 
One of them rode up and picked up the lines just as I had 
laid them down and he held the horses. I thought sure 
I'll put a hole through you, but before I could get my 
gun around he jumped off his pony down beside the wagon. 



37 

and still held the horses. The Indians were shooting all 
this time. John was calling for me to get under the bank. 
Just then another Indian darted up right close to the 
wagon and I thought I would get him, but before I could 
cover him with my gun he jumped his pony on the oppo- 
site side of the wagon, so I could not get him. 

''John was still begging me to jump over the bank and 
I had about made up my mind to. As I stepped out from 
the wagon I looked toward the rear and behind the wagon 
and saw three Indians standing about four rods away, 
having me covered with their guns. I had no time for a 
shot, so made a spring for the creek bank; my foot slipped 
and I fell just as they fired. I think they over shot me. 
I also think that the slip is what saved me. I kept going 
on my hands and feet over the bank. As they were pour- 
ing the shots right at us at short range we saw a log lying 
up the bank a little below us, we ran to that, thinking that 
would protect us on the side. We expected a good, long, 
hard fight, but as we ran to the log and jumped over, gett- 
ing ourselves into position, the Indians I guess saw that 
we were going to try to protect ourselves. They kept 
back on the bank out of our sight, and drove the team 
away just after we got behind the log, and the Indians 
quit shooting at us. Then we could hear shooting down 
the creek near the Dane settlement, when John said, "My 
God! They are Hghting down at the Dane settlement." 
This firing did not last long, and we thought it was the 
small band that went down that way, and that there would 
be enough of the whites there to stand them off and get in 
position by the time the band that had attacked us con- 
cluded to withdraw and go down and re-enforce their com- 
rades. 

"We kept waiting behind the log for sometime, expect- 
ing the Indians were going to slip upon us in some way 
around the creek banks, and we were prepared for them. 
If John had had a good repeating gun when we were under 
the creek bank, he had plenty of opportunity to make a 
few Good Indians, but did not dare to shoot that one load 
out while by himself. We lay there by the log quite a 
little time in readiness We did not hear any more of the 
Indians, and did not see anything of them. I then crawled 
up the creek bank to take a look. Away down on the 
east side of Spillman creek I saw two or three horseman, 
which I thought were Indians. Concluding that the In- 
dians had left us, we decided to try and go down to the 
Dane Settlement. 

"We expected the Indians to lie in the ambush for us 
along the creek, therefore we worked our way slowly and 



38 

carefully, every little ways going up the bank to see if 
we could see anything of the Indians. 

"Seeing no signs of foes, we could keep on going, and 
we passed the Dane settlement before sundown. We could 
go up the bank watching closely and listen, expecting to 
hear somebody or see where the Indians had been. We 
knew there were settlers near there, but did not know 
where their house was located. Not seeing their house, 
we passed on. Continuing our journey along the creek 
slowly and cautiously, we thought that the Indians had not 
gone farther than the Dane settlement, and that they had 
probably gone back, as we could not see or hear anything 
of them. It was now growing dark, and we tLought best 
to keep on the safe side and keep close to the creek, so in 
case they had gone farther down, and were on their way 
back, we would meet them in a place where we could have 
the advantage. 

"We followed Spillman creek down to its mouth, then 
down the Saline. 1 do not know what time of the night 
it was, but it was several hours after dark. We had not 
seen or heard anything since leaving our log on Trail 
creek, and concluded that the Indians had not passed down 
Spillman creek farther than the Dane settlement, that they 
had not been in the settlement on the Saline river. We 
were about a mile west of where the depot now stands at 
Lincoln, when the stillness of the night was broken by a 
loud war song northeast of us and down the valley. John 
said, "My God, Eli, they have been down to the settle- 
ment." We heard more singing farther down and nearer 
the river. "Yes John, I fear it is a big party, and think 
it is a different party from the one we ran into." 

"I thought this was a larger party that had come down 
the Saline, probably dividing on Wolf creek. We could 
tell they were moving up the Saline bottom by the noise 
they made, sounding like a large party or else they were 
scattered out. They did not seem to be coming very fast, 
some were singing and others talking loudly. 

"We got to the bank of the river, one of the bends which 
points to the north. When they got opposite and close 
enough we were going to fire towards them, we were going 
to fire together and I was to keep on firing while John 
loaded again. If the Indians came toward us, we would 
cross the river, but we did not think they would attack us 
in the dark. By this time they were pretty well north of 
us, but quite aways out of the bottom. All at once they 
commenced hallooing and fired several shots. As the last 
shots were fired, we heard a woman scream one loud pierc- 
ing scream more of horror than of agony, then all was still . 



39 

"We could not imagine who it was that had fallen into 
the hands of the Indians, there being no one living in the 
direction from from which the scream came. We almost 
held our breath while we listened, wondering what the 
Indians were doing, and which way they were moving, 
waiting and listening, and waiting for the sound of their 
ponies, walking through the grass, a voice, a sigh, or a 
moan, but not a sound reached us. In a few moments 
which seemed hours to us, we heard them east of us down 
the river. John thought it best to get down the river 
ahead of them, but I could not see how we could head 
them otf if we were to follow them directly down the 
river. Being sure that they were now down in the settle- 
ment, we crossed the river in the direction of Bullfoot 
creek, by so doing we could travel faster and get ahead of 
the Indians. 

"Starting a little east of south, when we got on high 
ground between the Saline and Bullfoot we saw several 
fire signal arrows shooting up into the sky, from up Bull- 
foot west and south of us. Thinking then that there 
must be three bands of Indians, one coming down the 
Spillman, one down the Saline, and the other down the 
Bullfoot, we feared that when daylight came, all we could 
see would be Indians, Indians everywhere. 

"Wishing to get ahead of them we turned a little east, 
getting to the creek as soon as possible; when, thinking 
we were below them we hurried down the creek as fast as 
we could under the circumstances, keeping our guns ready 
to fire at the first sight of a moving Indian. 

"We had made up our minds that if we ran into them 
again we were going t'^ do shooting at the first one we 
saw, without waiting for good one or fat one. Traveling 
on down the creek, dawn was fast approaching, we were 
still hugging the creek for protection in case of need. 
We had not heard a sound or seen a signal light since 
those mentioned. 

■'About sun up or a little after, we were near Fred 
Erhardt's place, where we found a company of United 
States cavalry in camp. We reported to the captain what 
we had seen — told him what we had heard in the night, 
out on the Saline river bottom, and of the fire arrows we 
had seen just a little above on Bullfoot. I begged him to 
saddle up at once — to furnish me a horse and I would 
lead them right to the Indians' camp, where I thought we 
could catch them if we moved at once and moved quickly. 
He replied, "I cannot move any farther until I get orders 
to do so. The Indians were in the settlement over the 
river yesterday afternoon, but I do not know how much 



40 

damage they have done." He had sent a dispatch to Fort 
Harker for orders and would wait there until he received 
an answer. We were disgusted with his reply, drank a 
cup of coffee, ate a hard tack and started on home, keep- 
ing on the south side of the river, and just before noon 
got home. 

"I got up my pony, intending to go back up the river, 
but as we had told the folks the story, they would not let 
me go until next day, when I went up. But the dead, ex- 
cept one, had been found, and all the wounded. My sis- 
ter, Mrs. Alderdice, had been captured. 

"The next day, A. M. Campbell and some others came 
up from Salina, with whom I went up on Spillman creek 
to look the ground over, and to see if we could find Pe- 
tersen, the missing Dane. Finding his body, we dug his 
grave where he fell, on the south side of the Spillman. 
We also saw the graves of the others that the Indians had 
killed. They were buried by the party that were there 
May 31, 1869. We also saw where the Indians had been 
at the dug-out, where the Danes lived. I knew now that 
we were wrong in thinking there were three parties or 
bands of Indians. There was but one band; we were fol- 
lowing this party around, that made us think we were 
seeing different bands. 

"The shooting on the Saline river was where the two 
men, T. Meigerhoff and C. Weichell were killed, and Mrs. 
Weichell was captured. They must have crossed the river 
after killing these two men near us, and went over to 
Bullfoot, and not down the river as we thought at that 
time, but we following them over caused us fee think them 
another party. Yours very truly, 

"Eli Ziegler." 

The place where Eli Ziegler and Alverson were when 
the Indians overtook them, according to his letter, must 
be just where the Denmark school house now stands. 
This corresponds better to his description than any other 
place on Trail creek. The horses and harness were all 
that the Indians took, and it seems that they spoiled 
the harness badly by cutting the tugs, which was 
done very neatly. This is the place where Waldo Han- 
cock, of Beverly, says they found the wagon. The Indi- 
ans, after cutting the tugs, left the ends hanging on the 
singletree hooks, and in this shape they were found a few 
days later when they went up to look for the wagon. 
This wagon did good service for the settlers during that 



41 

fall. They came up to the abandoned farms to gather 
what had been planted by those who had been killed by 
the Indians. Mr. Hancock informed me that they got some 
extra fine potatoes off of the Lauritzen farm. The pota- 
toes grew down near the water edge of Spillman creek. 
They were obliged to go up there several times to clear 
the patch. 

The Schermerhorn Ranch. 

The Schermerhorn ranch has been often mentioned, in 
connection with the old history of this section of Lincoln 
county, but I never saw a description given of its location; 
nor what it was composed of or was represented to be. It 
was located on the northeast quarter of section 28, range 
7, in what is now Elkhorn township. Mr. Schermerhorn 
kept a general store there where the settlers could get a 
few of the must needed things necessary to sustain life. 
It was about two miles due south of the present Rocky 
Hill bridge, where the Mofl5tts had their dwelling in 1864, 
and about three miles east of where Ferdinand Erhardt 
had his home. Gen. Alfred Sully had headquarters at 
this place in 1868 and investigated the conditions in this 
part of the country. 

Railroad Construction Gang Attacked May 28, 1869. 

Here is a story not exactly a part of this book, yet it 
has some bearing on the tragedy, enacted here on the 30th 
day May. On the 28th day of May the same party of 
Indians tore up the track and ditched the train on the 
railroad and had a battle with the railroad gang that built 
the road. Two white men were killed and four were 
wounded in that battle. That was the time and place 
where our townsman A. Roenigk received a very serious 
wound from an Indian's rifle. He was shot through the 
lungs and for several days it looked very serious for Mr. 
Roenigk. It seems very much like he was on the road to 
the New Jerusalem, but he rallied, got well and is still 
hale and hearty, and has just completed a trip around the 
world, which included the Old Jerusalem. He, together 
with the others that were wounded, was taken to the gov- 



42 

ernment hospital at Ft. Marker. Here he saw the Schmutz 
boy after he was brought there for treatment. 

Indian Outrages of 1868. 

In the early summer of 1868 three women by the names 
of Bacon, Foster and Shaw were take prisoners on Bacon 
creek about seven or eight miles northwest of Denmark. 
They were sadly mistreated by the Indians. Some author- 
ities have it that they were kept prisaners for a week and 
then released; others say that they were let go the 
next day, anyway none of them were killed. When found 
they were more dead than alive but for the reason they 
were not killed, their names do not appear on the Pioneer 
monument. Mrs. Alderdice was both captured and killed 
and Mrs. Weichell was captured and very badly wounded, 
therefore they are represented on the monument. 

About the same time of that year 1868 the Indians did 
some killing around Beloit in Mitchell county, and took 
two little girls prisoners and carried them over here on 
the Saline river. They were about five and seven years old, 
and were worn out from hanging on the bare backs of the 
Indian ponies. For that reason, or perhaps for other rea- 
sonsjthey were dropped on the edge of the bluffs northwest 
of Lincoln Center. The little girls evidently thought that 
the Saline river was the Solomon, and that they were not 
far from home. They went down to the river and found 
an abandoned log house; here they were for two days 
without food. Ferdinand Erhardt and Martin Hendrick- 
son were out on a scouting tour and happened to see one 
of the little girls with a red shawl on her head. They 
first thought that it was an Indian, so they drew their re- 
volvers and advanced, but they soon found that instead of 
Indians they were two little white girls. The first thing 
they asked for was bread as they had not had anything to 
eat for two days. The girls were picked up and carried 
to the home of Mr. Hendrickson, and there they were 
cared for until their parents in Beloit could be notified of 
their whereabouts. The father, Mr. Bell came over from 
Beloit to Mr. Hendrickson 's and took his daughters home. 
The soldiers did not rescue those ffirls; in fact the soldiers 



43 

did not see them, yet the good people over in Mitchell 
county have it that the soldiers did the rescuing. 1 simply 
desire to correct the statement as it is seemingly incorrect. 

General Sully by his presence did some good work here 
that summer, in preventing Indian depredations, but that 
is about all that the United States soldiers did here. 
Lack of Military Protection. 

There are said to have been four stockades or camps in 
what is now Lincoln county, built by the federal or state 
governments for the protection of soldiers and settlers. One 
was at or near the Schermerhorn ranch; one near what is 
now Lincoln Center; one on Spillman creeks located about 
where Fred Sheldon's house now stands. But the most 
prominent of these camps was the one located at the junc- 
tion of Spillman and Bacon creeks,on the northwest quarter 
of the southeast quarter of section 8, township 11, range 9, 
in what is now Grant township and is owned at the present 
time by Lars P. Larson. This was built more like a fort 
than any of the others and consisted of a two story log 
house, as near as I can find 24x24 feet, a large stockade 
for the horses, and a mess built of rock for cooking pur- 
poses. The remains of the mess building are still visible 
and can be easily traced but the stockade and the log house 
were burned by a prairie fire a few years after their erec- 
tion. It is at this place that J. J. Peate, of Beverly, be- 
gan his service as a government scout. It has been sug- 
gested that the place be suitably marked with a substan- 
tial stone, and the author of this book is willing to donate 
the stone for this purpose, the only cost will be for the 
lettering. It is asserted that soldiers were stationed at 
these points at that time for the protection of the few set- 
tlers who were then here. It is further stated in Miss 
Barr's History of Lincoln County that there were no 
soldiers here on May 30, 1869. This seems to be a serious 
mistake, as Ferdinand Erhardt is positive that soldiers 
camped on his place between May 30th. and 31st., 1869, 
and Eli Ziegler is equally positive that he requested the 
captain to give him a horse, and he would lead them to 
where the Indians were, but the officer declined to move, 
stating that he had sent a courier to Fort Harker to get 



44 

permission from headquarters to give battle to the 
Indians. Furthermore that officer had information on the 
morning of the 31st, or the next morning after the mas- 
sacre, from three different parties of what had happened 
the day before. The three parties who broaght informa- 
tion were Mrs. Kine, the Christiansen brothers, and Eli 
Ziegler. By consulting the map it will reveal the fact 
that the Indians and the soldiers camped within less than 
a mile apart. It looks like the case of the lion and the 
lamb sleeping together that night, and neither of them 
getting hurt. In all the documents and records that I 
have presented in this book, I fail to find where the 
soldiers did any protective work. General Custer and 
General Forsythe are the only ones who made the Indians 
come to time in this part of Kansas. The scouts in the 
Saline valley and the settlers were the ones who were 
always ready to turn out and give battle. 

Ferdinand Erhardt and Martin Hendrickson were neither 
scouts nor soldiers, yet they were always there if any- 
thing was doing. The regular scouts from the Saline 
valley were: J. J. Peate, Chalmers Smith and E. E. 
Johnson. These three may be put down as commanders of 
the volunteers. D. C. Skinner, Fletcher Vilott, Lewis 
Farley and his son Hutchinson, Thomas Alderdice, Thomas 
Boyle, Eli Ziegler, George Green, John Lyden, and John 
Haley. Those men were all in what is now Lincoln 
county. George W. Culver, Frank Herrington, Howard 
Morton, H. H. Tucker, G. B. Clark, A. J. Eutsler, E. G. 
Tozier, William Stubbs, and J. E. Green, were mostly 
from Ottawa county. These men and a score of others 
less conspicious were the heroes of the Saline valley at 
that time. They did not do their fighting for money^ or 
glory; they fought for Betsy and the baby, and I am will- 
ing to predict that a monument will be erected here some 
day in memory of their bravery. 

The letter that opened this book, written by Robert 
Moffitt, to his sister in 1864, and the letter written by Eli 
Ziegler, show positive proof that the pioneers were thrown 
on their own resources. If they got through with their 
lives they were lucky; if they were killed, they had to 



45 

bury themselves; if they were taken prisoners or crippled 
for life, they had to get along as best they could. There 
was no government aid extended. If they lost all they 
had, they would sometimes get a little money out of it 
after they had gone through a lot of led tape and long 
delay. Therefore the pioneer monument on the Lincoln 
county court house square is a fitting recognition from 
the present generation to future generations, of the hard- 
ships the pioneers had to endure in order that we of the 
present time may live here in safety. What happened in 
Lincoln county in pioneer days has happened all over the 
United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Our coun- 
try has been one great battle field between whites and In- 
dians and whites against whites. 

Character of Those Killed 

The settlers who were killed herein 1864 and 1869, were 
fifteen in number, and mostly foreigners, hence innocent 
parties as far as doing harm or provoking the Indians was 
concerned. There were among them five children ranging 
in age from a few months to fourteen years. There were 
five foreigners who had not been here in the state more 
than from three months to two years. Lauritzen and wife, 
and Otto Petersen, those three came from northern Ger- 
many, from that strip of land ceded from Denmark to Ger- 
many in 1865. They were born Danes and emigrated to 
escape being German soldiers. Their birth place was in 
the neighborhood of Haderslev. Meigerhoflf and Weichell 
came from Switzerland. The Moffitt brothers were born 
in Ireland, but came to the United States as young child- 
ren, so they may be classed as Americans. So we find 
that there were five Americans, five foreigners, and five 
children killed by the Indians. 

As near as I can ascertain Lauritzen and his wife were 
farmers from the old country; Otto Petersen was a jewler, 
and is said to have had a good deal of small jewelery with 
him; the Christiansen brothers had been blacksmiths ail of 
their lives, so it is readily understood that they were rot 
so very well fitted to fight all of the battle incident to sub- 
duing the wilderness. Weichell and his wife were evident- 
ly of a class of people higher up in the social world of 



46 

Europe. They had not only plenty of money and the finest 
of garments, but they had a lot of co.-tly pictures, the like 
of which the common people in Europe have not. Mr. 
Weichell was evidently trained for agriculture or he would 
not have examined the subsoil so particularly as stated be- 
fore. Meigerhoff as near as I can find it was here with 
Weichell in the capacity of a scientific farmer and servant; 
or perhaps in the capacity of a good friend from the old 
country, but he is supposed to have been rather poor finan- 
cially. The old settlers never could understand why a 
man of wealth and refinement should go so far west. The 
chances are that Mr. Weichell meant to have become a 
second Lord Scully if he had been spared. It is however 
a question why Mrs. Weichell after she was cured did not 
return to her native land, as she had plenty to take her 
there. There are very many questions from that time 
that neither records nor traditions can clearly solve. 

The Weichells were reported to have had $1,500 in gold 
which was supposed to have been stolen by the Indians. 
The solders found a little over half of this amount among 
the Indians and turned it over to Mrs. Weichell. She 
was also said to be the proud possessor of twenty-four silk 
dresses. Mrs. Weichell has visited some of the old settlers 
here a few times since this trouble occurred. She again 
married, and is supposed to live on a farm in eastern Kan- 
sas. She is at the present time negotiating with the old 
settlers around Salina for evidence through which to se- 
cure damages from the government for losses sustained 
at that time. 

The letters and other reports in regard to the character 
of the Moffitt brothers will show that they were here to 
make a home, and that they were industrious, and of a 
good, gentle disposition. They have one sister now living 
in Philadelphia, and in her letter in my possession she 
says that the boys were agreeable and tender hearted; more 
like girls in their choice of play, no rough and tumble 
play for them. The letter which opened this book seems 
to indicate that such was their character until they met 
their death. Of Houston and Tyler nothing good nor any- 
thing bad is known; as they were only visitors here at the 



47 

time of their death. So my judgment would be that 
they were good citizens. 

Watermellons in "Cold Storage." 

There were a good many funny things that happened 
during those days to mix up with the more serious things. 
While it is not the purpose of this little book to have 
much of anything in it except what concerns the pioneer 
monument or the victims that it represents, yet there are 
a good many things which the survivors did do at that 
time that will throw a little light on the way of living, in 
ihis, at that time barren country. Here is one as told by 
Waldo Hancock of Beverly. He was a member of the 
state malitia and was stationed at a camp a little southwest 
of Lincoln, on the southeast quarter of section one, near 
the present mill site. Some one had planted a good size 
water melon patch and had dug a lot of post holes. They 
were no doubt planning to build a fence. The malitia 
boys went after the water melons before they were ripe, 
and got nothing out of them. Mr. Hancock saw what 
was going on and determined to save some of them if 
possible so he slipped off to the patch and gathered as 
many melons as were full grown; but not ripe, (there were 
none ripe) and put as many as he could get into each post 
hole and covered them with fine earth sealing them up for 
good; sometime after this some of the boys expressed the 
desire for a good water melon and Mr. Hancock told them 
that he could get for them what they wanted and he took 
them down to the patch. Of course there were no melons 
on the vines but Hancock was equal to the occasion; he 
dug down into one of his "cold storage" plants and pro- 
duced as fine a water melon as they had ever eaten. This 
was evidently the first cold storage plant in Lincoln 
county and Waldo Hancock of Beverly was the originator 
of it. 

Hardships of Pioneering. 

I have all names and dates accurate, and I am sure that 
I have the character of each individual correct, and every 
place where everything happened is truly laid out on the 
map, so there is only one more thing to point out that 



48 

made pioneer life hard for an average of twenty-five years 
if they were fortunate enough to escape being killed. 
They had to contend with floods and droughts, hot winds 
and blizzards, cyclones and windstorms, grasshoppers and 
chinchbugs; two or three well devloped panics also oc- 
curred during that time; when a man had money in the 
bank he could not get it; all of these things helped to make 
pioneer life the next thing to a burden and also to retard 
a more rapid development of the country. When a crop 
was good it generally brought nothing. Eggs were from 
three to six cents per dozen; butter five or six cents a 
pound; corn from eight to eleven cents per bushel; wheat 
not worth more than the hauling; fat hogs two and one 
half per pound; and cattle and horses in proportion. But 
this is not the worst of it all. As late as 1876 sugar sold 
in Lincoln Center at eighteen cents per p-^und; coffee 
from forty to fifty; tobacco eighty cents; boots, shoes and 
clothing were entirely in proportion to these prices, so it 
is the next thing to a miracle that the pioneers lived through 
it. A good many left as it was to much hardship for 
them. 

In 1874 when the grasshoppers cleaned out the country 
and the panic cleaned out the banks, the government and 
the eastern people tried to aid and give us some sort of 
relief in our distress; the eastern people sent mostly food 
stuff; the government mostly clothing, which was all 
discarded soldiers uniforms. In 1875 when a stranger 
came here he would easily have considered everybody a 
soldier as all were dressed in uniform. When the Indians 
did the killing that was the period when we were bleeding; 
when the grasshoppers cleaned us out, that was the time 
when we were needing; when we erected by free gifts a 
monument in memory of all of these hard trials, that was 
the time when we were leading. Hence the monument 
stands for bleeding, needing and leading. 

Making a Home of a Homestead. 

I have been asked the question how long it would take 
a man to build up a fairly good comfortable home from a 
homestead. My answer is every time from twenty five 
to thirty years; and it had to be accomplished by hard 



49 

steady work and rigid economy. A very few arrived with 
a good deal of money, but they were not so well fixed in 
the long run as the fellow who was obliged to borrow a 
part of the money required to file on his homestead, as it 
required a sum of fourteen dollars to homestead, and I 
know of a few who did not have that much money. The 
rich man's trouble was that he had the cash and tried 
to push ahead. He would hire to get crops in, that in 
most instances were utter failures; so he constantly spent; 
while the poor man hired out to him, and thus earned his 
living, making his own little improvements and planting 
his own patches with his own hands, and if he lost his 
crops, he was out nothing but his labor. 

None of the surrounding counties have lost so many 
from Indian depredations as has Lincoln county, and that 
is what induced me to begin agitating the erection of the 
pioneer monument and place it on the court house square. 
It stands there today to remind the younger and coming 
generations that there was not always the same security and 
comfort in Lincoln that we of the present day enjoy. 
When we consider all of the improvements and luxuries 
which we have created in forty-one years, with nothing 
but the naked hands to work with, the question naturally 
arises what will the result be in forty-one years hence. 
Will the coming generations produce as big a change as 
the pioneers have produced ? They have the advantage of 
a true knowledge of the country gained from the pioneers 
and have vast wealth to work with. 

Note. 

(Since chapter two was written I have found another 
version of what happened on Spillman on May, 30th 1869. 
This is told by Mrs. Helena Errebo. She is the daughter 
of Peter Christiansen and she states that she was not 
working in Wilson at the time of the massacre on her 
father's land but that she was at home on that day. She 
further states that her father had no dwelling at that time 
but that they all lived at the Lauritzen place. This does 
not correspond with what her father told me on several 
occasions while he was living, and it would seem impos- 
sible for all to live at the Lauritzen home as there were 



50 

fifteen altogether. I give this second version for the pur- 
pose of showing how difficult it has been for me to ascer- 
tain the true facts as, in many cases, no two have told the 
same story alike. It is possibly owing to a faulty memory. 
The name "Meigherhoff" has been run through this 
book as "Meigerhoff" as this comes nearer the proper 
pronunciation. 

On page 28, the ninth line should read as follows: 
"killed, Eskild Lauritzen and wife, Stine; and Otto Pe- 
tersen.") 




South>vest View" Pioneer Monunieiit 




C. Bernhardt, Chairman of the Pioneer Monument Committee. 

C. Bernhardt was born February 18, 1847 at Vellerup, pr Skibby, 
Denmark, Europe. He came to the United States June 1st, 1867 and 
settled in Chicago. From there he came to Kansas in 1869 and 
settled in Junction City, Kansas on the 27th. day of November. On 
September 1st., 1875 he came to Lincoln county, Kansas and located 
on a homestead at Denmark, and has resided in this county ever since. 

His life work has been blacksmithing and farming. At the age of 
twenty three years he did not understand a word of English and he 
had never attended any English schools. 




Rev. H. C. Bradbury. Rev. John S. Strange. 

Members of the Pion33r MsnuTian': CDTimittee. 
Henry Chase Bradbury, the second son of Mary and Elbridge Brad- 
bury who was then pastor of the 1st, Presbyterian church ofWi!- 
Iiamsport, Pa., was born August 15, 1844. He was born again in 
Christ in 1862. Was educated in a christian home and at his father's 
school. In 1866 he graduated from Amherst college and in 1871 
from the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he too 
was engaged in Sabbath school and city missions. Came to Ottawa 
county, Kansas in 1 872 as a Home Missionary. Preached first at 
Lincoln in 1873. He is a kind of a circuit rider and a sod-plow 
preacher, and at first roved up and down the Solomon and Saline 
valleys to hunt places in need of sabbath schools and churches and 
the gospei. He is now 66 years young. 

Rev. John S. Strange was born near Elizabethtown, Kentucky in 
1831. He was raised in Indiana and lived there until he enlisted in 
the 49th. Indiana Infantry and served a little over three years. In 
1866 he came to what is now Lincoln county, Kansas. In 1870 he 
was appointed one of the first county commissioners and took part 
in the organization and naming of the county. At the first election he 
was elected as one of the county commissioners. He has made Lin- 
coln county his home ever since. He is a minister of the Christian 
Connection of America, and is a member of the Kansas State Chris- 
tian Conference. 




Northeast Vie\^ Pioneer Monumeiit 



51 



CHAPTER III. 
The Pioneer Monument. 

Some twelve years ago I began to talk "pioneer monu- 
ment," especially in the Denmark settlement. My idea 
was to build a monument for the five who were killed in 
and from that settlement, and to have it erected in the 
Lutheran church yard there; but the settlers did not ap- 
prove of the idea, so I brought the matter up before the 
Old Settlers' Reunion of Lincoln county, and met with 
about the same reception there. I could not make any 
headway, and came nearly giving up in despair. The 
question however was revived nearly every year until 1907, 
when Hon. Geo. W. Martin, the Secretary of the State 
Historical Society at Topeka, came to Lincoln Center to 
deliver an address at the Old Settlers' Reunion of that 
year. It so happened that Mr. Martin and I were old ac- 
quaintances at Junction City, Kansas. We lived there to- 
gether from 1869 to 1873, when he moved to Kansas City. 
I told him of my desire to have a monument here and re- 
quested him to help me out. He promised that he would, 
and he did to some extent. After he was through with 
his address, I made a few remarks touching on the subject 
of a pioneer monument as a fitting recognition of the mar- 
tyred pioneers. When I concluded, Rev. H. C. Bradbury 
made a few remarks, and made a motion to appoint a 
committee of five to ascertain the number killed by Indians 
in what is now Lincoln county, and the names of each 
victim. That committee consisted of Rev. H. C. Brad- 
bury, Rev. John S. Strange, Arthur J. Stanley, A. Roe- 
nigk, and myself. The committee was instructed to re- 
port at the next annual meeting of the Old Settlers. At 
the meeting in October, 1908 the committee reported fifteen 
killed by Indians in what is now Lincoln county. Where- 



52 

upon it was decided to appoint a committee to solicit funds 
and erect a monument. This committee consisted of C. 
Bernhardt, chairman, Rev. H. C. Bradbury and Rev. John 
S. Strange. Later several others were appointed, but 
none of them served on the committee. 

I secured $13.00 the first day that I solicited,(if I had 
been superstitious I would have quit then, but I am not.) 
Reverends Bradbury and Strange did not take any part in 
soliciting funds, so it was all left for me to do, as was also 
the tracing of all kinds of clues to get the correct names of 
the victims, and the time and place of the occurrences. 
Monument Selected. 

I plodded along daily, and had gathered about $85, and 
had about $40 more on my list by the 21st, day of Decem- 
ber, 1908. On that date the monument was selected and 
ordered from Henry Sahlmann, the Lincoln marble dealer. 
Mr. Sahlmann had told me several times that if it was de- 
cided to unveil the monument on May 30th, 1909, we 
would have to order it in December, or we could not get 
it in time for the anuiversary. I notified the committee, 
and invited the following gentlemen to meet on the said 
21st; of December: J. J. Peate as president of the Old 
Settlers' Reunion, J. W. Meek, vice-president of the 
Union, and Hon. Wm. Baker, ex-congressman for the dis- 
trict. We six met and selected the monument, which is 
somewhat the same shape as the monument erected on 
Beecher's Island, in CJolorado. It was to be of dark 
Quincy Granite, to stand on a concrete foundation to be 
sunk six feet in the ground, this to be six feet square 
at the bottom, and five feet square at the top of the 
ground. The first base of granite was to be four feet 
square, and the complete monument to stand fourteen feet 
in height from the concrete foundation to the top of the 
spire. About five hundred letters were to be engraved on 
the monument, and an air-tight copper box, 5x5x7 inches, 
was to be provided by Mr. Sahlmann; all of which he 
agreed to furnish for $470. We agreed to pay him this 
amount, and a contract was drawn in duplicate specifying 
the arrangement in detail. I, as chairman, signed the 
same, and was now sure of the monument, but not so sure 



53 

of getting the needed cash. After the order was placed 

and the concrete foundation put in it was easier to get 

people to contribute, and the result was gratifying to me. 

Site Chosen. 

At the regular January meeting, 1909, of the county 
commissioners of Lincoln county, Arthur J. Stanley, J. 
W. Meek and myself appeared before the board and re- 
quested permission to place said pioneer monument on 
the southwest quarter of the Lincoln county court house 
square. The request was granted, and it was left to the 
committee to select the spot where the monument was to 
stand. 

The map has been compiled as nearly correct as possible 
at so late a date. This is the first time in Kansas that an 
attempt has been made to locate the exact sites where 
battles between Indians and whites took place. It will be 
noticed that in our county Lincoln Center is almost in the 
middle of the troubled zone, therefore we thought that 
the court house square in Lincoln was the most logical 
location for the erection of the pioneer monument 
Inscription. 

The parties to be given credit for the inscription, and 
who did the dictating, were J. J. Peate, of Beverly; 
John S. Strange, and myself. Rev. H. C. Bradbury was 
not present, but he liked to have the word "subscription" 
changed to "free gifts. " The change was ordered to be made. 
He also suggested that the following words be added to 
the inscription; "Remember the days of old," which was 
done, and I am inclined to thmk that it was a very ap- 
propriate line. 

The inscription on the monument is as follows: On the 
south side, "Erected by free gifts in memory of those 
massacred or captured by Indians in what is now Lincoln 
county. Dedicated May 30th, A. D. 1909. Remember 
the days of old." 

West side, "Massacred, May 30th, A. D. 1869, between 
Trail and Beaver creeks, E. Lauritzen, Mrs. Stine Laurit- 
zen, O, Petersen, F. Meigherhoff, G. Weichell, F. Alder- 
dice, 2 years; A. Alderdice, 3 months; J. Daily, 7 years; 
J. H. Strange, 14 years; A. Schmutz, 14 years." 



54 

North side, "Captured, May 30th, A. D 1869, Mrs. 
Alderdice and Mrs. Weichell. Mrs. Alderdice killed by a 
Souix chief during battle with U. S. Cavalry, July 11th, 
1869, on south fork of Platte river, in Colorado, Terri- 
tory; Mrs. Weichell wounded and rescued." 

East side, "Massacred, August, 6th, A. D. 1864. on 
Beaver creek, J. L MofBtt, T. Moffitt, J. W. Houston, J. 
Tyler." 

Masonic stone, northeast corner, "Laid by order of the 
M. W. Grand Lodge, A. F. & A. M. of Kansas, May 6th, 
A. D. 1909, A. L. 5909," and Masonic emblem, square 
and compass. 

I have explained before how I obtained the names of 
some of the victims. Those names have been incorrectly 
spelled heretofore, but when we were ready to have them 
inscribed on the monument, I set out to find the correct 
initials and spelling. I have succeeded in all; the last se- 
cured being the given name of Mr. James Tyler. I am in 
hopes that this little book will find its way into the hands 
of the little girl who was in the Moffitt house at the time 
that Tyler was killed, and if this should happen, that her 
memory will prove conclusively that my information was 
correct in this particular. 

Subscriptions to Monument Fund. 

On the fifteenth of April 1909, I closed the subscription 
list, and I had on that day about twenty-five dollars more 
than the contract price of the monument. I caused to be 
printed 2000 copies of the subscription list at my own ex- 
pense, in order to have a copy ready to place in the 
monument foundation. A copy of the list will be found 
in this book, showing exactly what I have received and 
what I have spent it for. 

A word about soliciting for a thing of this kind. I will 
say that it was my first experience in that line, so I may 
have made some mistakes, but I can think of but one. If 
I was to do it over again I would have one list for 25 cent 
subscribers, one for fifty cent subscribers, and one for 
?1.00 or above. I would always show the dollar list first. 
The monument was truly erected by free gifts, and if a 
party refused to contribute I did not go to him the second 



55 

time; neither would I accept any more than five dollars 
from anyone contributor, although several would have 
given ten dollars; and one expressed his surprise that I did 
not ask twenty-five of him. I wanted to make it as near 
popular as possible, and my aim was to have about five 
hundred subscribers, and I came near getting them. We 
could easily have gotten $1,000 for that purpose if we had 
started for it, but I am more than satisfied with the result. 
Laying the Corner Stone. 

I invited the Masonic lodge of Lincoln Center to lay 
the foundation stone with Masonic honors, and the invita- 
tion was accepted. The Barnard and the Sylvan Masonic 
Lodges were invited to visit us and to participate in the 
ceremony, and the date selected was the sixth day of May, 
1909. The Barnard and Sylvan Lodges sent good sized 
delegations, so we had on that day a greater number of re- 
presentative men and Masons in Lincoln Center, than on 
any previous occasion of a like nature. There were 
about one hundred and fifty Masons present and about two 
thousand spectators. This was one of the greatest historic 
happenings in Lincoln Center, as it showed the interest in 
the monument by the great majority of the public as man- 
ifested by the crowd that gathered on that day. 

Arthur J. Stanley was deputized as Grand Master for 
that occasion, and performed the ceremony of depositing 
the historical box in a manner that was a credit to him and 
to Lincoln Lodge, and a pleasure to the visiting lodges. 
Gatherings of this kind will tend to make life more pleas- 
ant and mankind better. It will also have the tendency to 
uplift by example the coming generation, and it has since 
been proven that this gathering produced more good bro- 
therly feeling among all classes of people in Lincoln county 
than any other gathering that we have had here in the 
past. The mere fact that the Masonic emblem is on the 
monument is in itself a lasting historical fact that can be 
appreciated more as time rolls on, that we at this time 
took advantage of every opportunity to show the world 
that we were not only pleased but highly gratified with 
the success achieved. The copper box deposited in the 
foundation of the pioneer monument contained a copy of 



56 

the annual report of the Grand Lodgre A F. & A. M. of 
Kansas, for the year 1909; Roll of officers and standing 
and special committees of the Lincoln Lodge, No. \b4:, A. 
F. & A. M.; a copy of the history of Memorial Monuments 
and Tablets in Kansas, including the pioneer monument of 
Lincoln county; a book containing the names of the solicit- 
ing committee, and the names of the contributors to the 
monument; copies of the Lincoln Sentinel, Lincoln Re- 
publican and Sylvan Grove News, all published on May 
6, 1909; United States coins of all denominations from one 
cent to one dollar. 

Unveiling of the Monument. 

May 30th, 1909 was the fortieth anniversary of the 
last Indian massacre in Lincoln county, so that date was 
decided upon as an appropriate occasion for the unveiling 
of the monument. This date falling on Sunday, this year, 
the actual unveiling was held on Monday, May 31, 1909. 
This being our National Memorial Day, it was arranged 
with the local G. A. R. Post to divide the time with them 
in the afternoon of that day, but after three different 
agreements with the Post, the Old Settlers' committee 
was finally allowed thirty minutes for the unveiling cere- 
monies. 

The program for the unveiling ceremonies on May 31, 
1909, was published in the Lincoln Republican on May 
27th, as a part of the proceedings for Memorial day as ar- 
ranged by the Grand Army; and is given below: 

"At 1:30 o'clock p. m., the Post and Corps will re-as- 
semble at Post Hall and march to the Court House square 
where the ceremonies connected with the unveiling of the 
monument erected to the memories of those who were 
murdered by the Indians, in the pioneer days of this 
county will be held, which ceremonies will be under the 
direction and management of the Pioneer Monument Com- 
mittee with Chris Bernhardt presiding. 

"Music by Lincoln Military Band. 

"Prayer by Rev. H. C. Bradbury. 

"Song by the Chorus Society. 

"Address by Rev. John S. Strange during the delivery 



57 

of which the monument will be unveiled bj Mrs. Mary 
Edwards." 

The following extracts are made from the local news- 
papers regarding the unveiling ceremonies: 

" The new monument erected on the court house square 
in memory of those killed by the Indians, was unveiled 
with simple and appropriate ceremonies at 1 :30 p. m. last 
Monday afternoon. Mrs. Mary Edwards, of Sylvan 
Grove, Cedron township, Lincoln county, and a niece of 
Mrs. Alderdice, one of the captives and killed, unveiled it. 
Rev. John S. Strange, who had a son killed, delivered the 
address. The monument is of dark Quincy granite, 14 
feet high, four feet square at the base. It was built by 
popular subscription, and cost $470. Henry Sahlmann 
proprietor of the Lincoln marble works had the contract. 
Much credit is due to C. Bernhardt for his untiring en- 
ergy in soliciting, and it was he who started the move- 
ment." — (Lincoln Sentinel, June 3, 1909.) 

Rev. T. M. Strange offered the opening prayer, at the 
unveiling, as Rev. H. C. Bradbury was unable to reach 
Lincoln because of a railroad accident Rev. Sarah 
Strange closed the services with prayer. 

The Salina Journal of June 1, remarks that "there 
were perhaps more people in Lincoln yesterday in attend- 
ance at the memorial exercises than there has ever been in 
the history of Lincoln. They came from every direction 
for miles around, and there were p robably 5,000 people in 
town the greater part of the day." The Lincoln Repub- 
lican of June 3 states that Rev. J. S. Strange was the 
principal speaker at the unveiling ceremonies. His 
speech dwelt on the early history of Lincoln county, and 
was filled with reminiscences rich in the rehearsal of events 
of pioneer days. The address at the Methodist church 
by rludge T. F. Garver, of Topeka, will long be remem- 
bered by those who were fortunate enough to be able to 
get within hearing distance. 

Search for Biographical Data for Monument. 
I have in my possession all the printpsd programs, and 
the local and foreign newspaper notices in regard to our 
transactions and progress during the monument period. 



58 

and shall insert two here just for samples of the work 
required in securing the data for the in'^cription. 

Extract from the Salina Journal of March 18, 1909: 

"Christian Bernhardt, of Lincoln, a brother of H. P. 
Bernhardt and an uncle of Prof. Bernhardt of this city, 
is in Salina today hunting for information about two men, 
supposed to be early residents of Salina. 

"One of the men's name is Tyler. The others n^me is 
either Hughes or Hueston What Mr. Bernhardt wants 
is to get the first names or initials of those two men, that 
they may be inscribed on the 'monument which is being 
erected at Lincoln to the fifteen settlers in Lincoln county 
who were killed by the Indians in the early days. 

"Tyler and Hughes, or Hueston were killed, but thus far 
it has been impossible to ascertain the first names of the 
two men. 

"Mr." Bernhardt is hunting up all the old settlers of Sa- 
lina today in an effort to trace the identity of the men. 
Anyone who can give any information on the subject 
should communicate with the Journal or with Mr. 
Bernhardt. 

"Tyler and Hughes are supposed to have come up from 
Salina to visit with the MofBtt brothers near Lincoln. 
The two MoiBtts, Tyler and Hughes all went out to- 
gether on a buffalo hunt. While they were out they 
were surround- d by Indians and killed. The Indians 
then attacked 'the Mofl5tt cabin, but it was so strongly de- 
fended by the father of the Moffitt boys that the Indians 
gave it up. 

"The monument which will be erected in the court 
house square in Lincoln will be ready for unveiling May 
30, the anniversary of the murders. The corner stone of 
the monument will be laid May 6th by the Lincoln lodge, 
154 A. F. and A. M. The Sylvan and Barnard lodges 
will be there. The monument will cost $800 and the money 
has been raised mostly' by Mr. Bernhardt. 

Extract from Lincoln Republican 

"C. Bernhardt who has done most of the rustling of 
funds and data for the Old Settlers Monument at Lincoln 
has been in Salina looking for the full names of some of 



S9 

the early settlers killed. The followin«j from the Sallna 
Semi- Weekly Union shows what he accomplished. 

"C. Bernhardt is a happy man. 

"As mentioned in the Union Thursday he had the names 
all complete for the Lincoln monument but those of Hues- 
ton and Tyler. It certainly looked blue for gcttinfir any 
of those. 

"Late Thursday afternoon he succeeded in gettin<{ the 
full name of Hueston. His name was John W. Houston. 

"A thought struck me that the records ought to be 
right here in Salina, right in your own court house." said 
Mr. Bernhardt to a reporter. "I went down there, and 1 
must say you have gentlemanly people at the court house 
here. They are accommodating.'' 

"I was shown records of the early days and allowed to 
go through them. I was given a mighty pleasant surprise 
when I found the record of John W. Houston, killed by 
the Indians August 6, 1864. 

"I have the history and records of all now but Tyler. 
It looks impossible to get anything of him for no trace at 
all can be found and there is no clue. But I still have 
hopes." 

The Samna Journal of April 29, 1909, has tfik 
Following: 

"C. Bernhardt of Lincoln, Kansas, is in Salina today on 
his way home from Junction City, where he succeeded in 
securing the correct names of two more of the settlers killed 
by the Indians in 1869 to whom the peoi)le of Lincoln are 
going to erect a monument. 

"The two men whose names iMr. Bernhardt finally se- 
cured are F. Meigherhoff and George Weichell. 

"There are still two names of which the initials cannot 
be located. They are Hughes and Tyler. 

"I have made every effort to locate Hughes and Tyler? 
said Mr. Bernhardt today. I can"t get track of them. 
The men were killed but they left wives and children. 
Some of those children must be alive, but it is impossible 
to find out where they are." 

"Mr. Bernhardt exercised much ing'enuity to locate the 
names of Meigherhoff and Weichell. 



60 

*'I learned," he says, "^'that these two men had just come 
over to this country from Switzerland. They had come 
direct to Kansas without stopping enroute, and so I figured 
that either at Junction or Salina I would find the first nat- 
uralization papers of these men. By going through the 
c'erk of court's records at Junction, I located the two men. 
They were entered on the book right together, and there 
is no doubt that they were the men who came to Salina to- 
gether and went to Lincoln county. They were entered 
on the book on May 10, 1869, and were killed on May 30, 
1869. 

"On May 6, we are planning to have a celebration there 
in Lincoln in honor of the laying of the corner stone of 
the monument. The stones for the monument are nearly 
all cut and we will have the monument ready to unveil on 
May 30, Memorial Day, and the 40th anniversary of the 
killing of the settlers. On May 6, the Barnard and Sylvan 
Grove Masonic lodges will come to Lincoln and assist in 
the laying of the corner stone. There will not be an elab- 
orate program on that day, but at the time the monument 
is unveiled on May 31, we expect to have some fine 
speeches. T. F. Graver will be one of the speakers." 

Mr. Bernhardt is the man who first conceived the idea 
of building the monument, and further than that, he went 
ahead and by his personal efforts raised the money to pay 
for it. 

"It will he a whole lot of monument for the amount of 
money which we have had to spend," he said today. The 
monument will cost about $500. 

Remarks 

The monument is not so large as to look boastful, nor 
too small to show off well, and is comp<iSed of the best 
granite that money can buy. It will always be our pride. 
Sti^angers will look at our inhabitants with a great deal 
more respect, and the purpose for which it stmds will live 
when we are all gone. 

To the good people who so willingly and generously 
contributed to the monument and made it a success, I ex- 
tend my sincere thanks. To those who did not contribute, 



Gl 

I extend my thiuiks, iis this class iiuule nic work so much 
harder to accomplish results. 

To Henry Sahlmann, now deceased. IxHon-^ > the .-.'•real est 
honor, as builder of the monument. This was next to his 
last piece of work on earth. He erected that monument 
for practically pure love, as he did not make anything on 
the job, and seemingly was greatly disturbed at times 
when the work was criticised. He came to me once and 
suggested that he would like to throw up the job on that 
account but I persuaded him to stay with it. Mr. Sahl- 
mann would have had me for a friend foiever as I never did 
business with any man who was so kind, gentle and oblig- 
ing. He did more than he had contructod for, and charged 
nothing extra. Men of this class will live forever in the 
memories of those who knew them. 

Financial .Statement. 

As stated before the cost of the monument was $470; of 
the stone walk around the monument, $82.00, of the three 
settees, $25.00. Other small expenses connected with the 
unveiling, for lumber, nails, hauling and hired labor, 
for monument pictures for the newspapers and the 
State Historical Society, were $14.50; making the total 
cost of the monument and all pretaining to its erection 
$541.50. The total collections to date are $531.55; leaving 
a balance due me of $9.95. Every item was paid for 
promptly when delivered, so there is nothing against the 
monument. It is now ready to turn over to the people as 
a permanent property of the county. 

Death of James K. Mead. 

Since the foregoing was written I have learned of the 
death of James R. Mead, of Wichita, at the age of seventy 
five years. He made a speech here on October 1st, 1908, 
at the Old Settlers Reunion. To him belongs the honor 
of placing the first five dollar note in my hand for the 
pioneer monument fund. He gave me that money a few 
hours before the monument committee was appointed, 
showing his good faith that the citizens of Lincoln county 
would furnish the remainder to complete the work. Mr. 
Mead was an active liie member of the Kansas State His- 
torical Society and has been instrumental in preserving a 



62 



great deal of the early history of this and surrounding 
counties. 

Erratum. 

The following is to be corrected in the inclosed list: 

A. Zeigler should read $1.00 instead of 50 cents. 

Wm. Mueller should read Wilbur Miller. 

H. A. C. Anderson should read $1.00 in place of $10.00. 

In addition to the inclosed subscription list add the fol- 
lowing amounts which have been contributed since the 
list was printed: 

Daniel Vonada $1.00 

H. E. Edwards .50 

Elk vale School District 1.00 
School District No. 14 1.00 
W. M. Davis 1.00 

H. Morton, Tcscott 2.00 



C. H. Berry 


$1.00 


John Ryan 


1.00 


Ed M. Harris 


.50 


Charles Kilmer 


1.00 


W. R. C. Beverly 


5.00 


W. W. McCanles 


1.00 




AS IT IS IIN 1910 



016 089 369 2 



Key to Map. 

1 Where Ziegler and Alverson were overtaken and 
their horses stolen. 

2 Lorentz Christiansen's farm 

3 Peter Christiansen's farm where E. Laiiritzen and 
wife, Stine, and Otto Petersen were killed and buried. 

4 Where Petersen, Lauritzen, Meigherhoff, Weichell 
and wives lived. 

5-6 (). Petersen's farm — he had no house. 
7-8 Mei^herhoff and WeichelTs farm — the.v had no 
house. 

9 Soldier's cami). 

10 Where Meigherhotf and Weichell were killed and 
buried, and Mrs. Weichell taken prisoner. 

11 Where Mrs. Alderdice was taken prisoner and her 
children killed. 

12 Soldier's camp and Indian Inirial oround. 

13 Stone cave and Indian camp where skulls were 
found 

14 Ferdinand Erhardt's farm where soldiers were 
camped May 30th, 1869. 

15 Where the Strange boy was killed and the Schmutz 
boy wounded. 

16 Where the Moffitt brothers, Houston and Tyler 
were killed and l)uried. 

17 The MoffiW farm. 

IS The Schermerhorn farm and store. 



^7 











LIBRARY OF CONGRESS \ 



016 089 369 2 |j^ 



